


Thoroughly Ridiculous

by reliquiaen



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 11:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3409376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reliquiaen/pseuds/reliquiaen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I can probably take anything now. I've counted seeds on strawberries, I defy boredom." - Sometimes events snowball and you end up somewhere unexpected. Which is basically the story of Marceline's life really... (Arguably the most absurd thing I've ever written.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Story skips through time and changes perspective.

For whatever reason, the volume of her music didn’t seem to be helping her. She tossed her guitar on the floor with a disgusted flick of her wrist. She curled up into a ball and did a few mid-air somersaults, hoping they’d clear her mind. All it achieved was filling her eyes with hair and giving her a headache. She dropped from the air onto her bed in a very graceless manner and stared at the ceiling for a few hours. When dawn finally set wan rays of light oozing under the curtain she fell into a restless sleep.

\---

Banging woke her some interminable period of time later and she groggily rolled out of bed muttering a string of foul curses under her breath. It was still day time; the clock read midday and that was too early to be out of bed. She snatched her axe bass from against the wall, practically fell down the ladder and heaved it at the door.

The door groaned briefly, shuddering against the hinges. One of them gave out and the door dropped a few inches letting in a shaft of blinding yellow light. She hissed.

“Who calls at such an _unglobly_ time of the day?” she screeched, hair thrashing around her face. Finn stepped around the door, poking it with one finger and smiling broadly as it wobbled on its last hinge. Jake followed him through, he was the size of a mouse and his eyes were huge. It was a bizarre combination.

“That was _awesome_ , Marcy!” he exclaimed. “You almost put the blade through Jake’s paw!”

Her hair stopped waving and settled around her shoulders. “Oh,” she said. “Sorry Jake.”

“It’s fine,” he replied, resuming a normal size. “I almost get impaled all the time.”

“What are you two dorks doing here?” Marceline asked them, trying to rehang the door without getting smacked in the face by the sun. She eventually gave up, figuring it’d be easier later, when it was dark and the sunlight was blocked by the cave. She floated over to them and hovered cross-legged above the sofa as they sprawled on the floor. Jake turned into a starfish and flopped about for a moment, making her smile.

“We’re bored,” Finn sighed in an overly dramatic way. “We went to see PB but she didn’t have any crises for us today. Today’s going to be peaceful and that’s boring.”

“Yeah, we wanted to know if you had anything planned,” Jake continued. “You get up to some cool shenanigans.”

Marceline smile widened. It was funny how happy it made her that they came over to visit. Even if it was because they had nothing better to do. “Well I was going to… you know, sleep? Because I don’t like sunshine and stuff.”

“Aw nutbags,” Finn said, sitting up. “Sorry to wake you Marcy.” He smacked himself in the forehead. “I’m such a dumb-head.”

Jake shook his head. “Nah bro, I forgot too. How lame.”

Finn sprang to his feet. “We’ll go so you can sleep.” He headed for the door.

“Eh,” Marceline replied with a shrug. “It’s not like I need a great deal of sleep anyway.” She tugged on her gloves and slammed her broad brimmed hat on her head. “Let’s go find some trouble.”

\---

As Finn had said, there didn’t appear to be a great deal going on in the Candy Kingdom, but Marceline paused as they went past to stare at the palace, its towers rising above the city walls. She shook herself and flew on after Jake, loping across the plains with Finn perched on his back, smiling. Jake jogged for a while, sniffing the air as though he could smell trouble, all Marceline could smell was the sugary aroma of cotton candy trees. And grass.

They cleared the last of the fluffy trees and Jake raced off towards the Mountain Kingdom. Marceline adjusted her hat, glanced once more over her shoulder and followed. They paused at the Cube Village for a break not long after.

The small squarish townsfolk clamoured around Finn and Jake, but when Marceline landed with her axe bass, they averted their gaze and kept their distance. She smiled, not minding the wary looks they shot her as they shied away. Bearing her fangs at them, she floated over their heads, grinning from ear to pointed ear as they cowered away.

“Marceline,” Finn said. “One of the Cube-folk is stuck in the well over there, we’ll be right back.” He glanced at the expressions of the little people. “Don’t be scared of her,” he told them. “Her bark is worse than her bite,” he said the last in a stage whisper. Marceline bristled.

“It is not,” she huffed indignantly.

He and Jake laughed, allowing the squares to usher them over to their equally square well. It didn’t take long for Marceline to get bored and she drifted over the tiny town a few times, watching the people. Every time they saw her shadow they’d run for cover, making her chuckle. It never ceased to amuse her just how afraid of her people were.

She stopped, thinking that it wasn’t the same everywhere. Before the thought could run away with her, Finn and Jake reappeared. Smiling, cheering blocks trailed in their wake and clustered around their ankles. It made walking hard for them because they were worriedly trying not to stand on the townsfolk.

Marceline glided closer and the cubes scattered, giving the heroes more room to move. The little people still followed and cheered, they just did it from slightly further away. She glared at them and chortled when their eyes widened and they ran off.

“We can go now,” Finn said, smiling face dirty. “Mission accomplished.”

“Good,” Marceline sighed. “This place is so boring.” She looked around. “What do they even do for entertainment here?”

Finn shrugged and climbed up onto Jake’s shoulders as the dog expanded. Marceline followed him up, still hoping for a decent answer. She didn’t get one. They kept heading towards the Mountain Kingdom, although why they thought they’d find action there specifically, she didn’t know.

Once they crossed the lowest peaks, however, they found something moderately exciting. A stone golem was hurling wads of earth at a collection of stick people, running around madly with no apparent sense of self preservation. They simply ran in circles while the golem tossed clump after poorly aimed clump of soil in their general direction. Their little stick mouths were open and tufts of grass, leaves and in one case a small sapling adorning their heads like hair wavered as they ran. Their high pitched shrieks were giving her a splitting headache and her expression soured. It would be so easy to make them stop screaming.

Glancing over at Finn and Jake who were beaming broadly at each other, she decided that chopping them into tinder wouldn’t go down well. Jake got as close as he could and started to shrink, at the same time, Finn let out a war cry and leapt from his friends head onto the golem’s face. If golems were smart enough to show facial expressions other than rage and dumbfounded blankness, this one would have been stunned. Finn smacked the golem in the nose a few times while Jake started herding the stick people away from the scene. Marceline unlimbered her axe bass and joined Finn. She struck the golem on the back of its neck so hard it staggered.

Once the stick folk were carefully sheltered behind a nearby mountain, Jake returned, turning himself into a giant shoe and kicked the golem in the stomach. The golem roared and swiped at Finn, sending him flying. Marceline abandoned her attack and swooped down to catch him before he hit the side of the mountain. Jake didn’t even seem to notice and just kept kicking.

Eventually the golem, doubled over and groaning, staggered away into a forest between two peaks. Jake bumped knuckles with Finn and they hurried off to find the stick people. Marceline followed at a distance. For some reason, she wasn’t enjoying herself. Much as it had been fun to hack into the rock golem… it just wasn’t as rewarding as she’d expected.

She sighed and floated up to them, not finding the terrified expressions on the sticks as satisfying as the cubes before. Perhaps she was just tired. She checked the position of the sun; it was well over half way down the sky.

“I’m going home guys,” she said, reaching up to adjust her hat again. Her hands rubbed up her arms surreptitiously, always aware that the gloves could slip down and expose her to the sun. She could be paranoid making sure they stayed in place sometimes.

“Aw,” Finn groaned. “If you have to.” His shoulders slumped.

“Yeah, well. It’s getting late and I should really get some sleep before evening,” she replied, slinging her guitar back over her shoulder. She reached out and bopped them both on the head. “Enjoy the rest of your day though, dorks.” Marceline grinned and twisted through the air, heading off before they could talk her into staying.

“Ugh,” she snorted as she flew, pulling the brim of her hat down even though the sun was to her back. Well. Mostly to her back. She went straight home, not even making a detour for food as she normally would going past the Candy Kingdom. Once back in her cave she tossed her hat and gloves on the sofa, deposited her bass on its rack and curled up above her bed, hoping to snatch a few hours of sleep before her… standing appointment.


	2. Chapter 2

She was late. Marceline swore and hurriedly changed out of the clothes she’d slept in, grabbed an apple from the fridge and burst out her door. She had the apple clenched between her teeth and was still shrugging into her coat as she zoomed across the mountains towards her destination. The moon was high, higher than usual because she’d slept in. She wanted to be angry at Finn and Jake for distracting her earlier, but just couldn’t make it happen.

Draining the apple, she unclenched her jaw and let it fall to the ground far below. She slowed as the sugary smells assaulted her nose, telling her she was approaching the Candy Kingdom. Marceline was always careful near the palace; a number of the staff didn’t really trust her. Peppermint Butler was particularly pointed in his dislike, regardless of his… relationship with her father.

As she zipped up her jacket and breezed through the shadows of the city, she kept an eye open for anything amiss. Or any guards who might throw a spear before they recognised her. They could be jumpy at night. She thrust her hands into the pockets of her jeans and soared over the wall, up towards the tower’s balcony.

Just as it always was, a light glowed inside the room and Marceline paused on the balcony to peer inside. It was always best to be sure Peppermint wasn’t in there when she visited. The little candy fellow could be so touchy. And he was over protective of the princess, which didn’t help even one bit.

Satisfied that the butler wasn’t present, she eased open the upper window and slipped inside, careful not to let the hinges creak as she closed it behind her. One evening, she’d remember to bring oil with so she could stop worrying about the squeal it sometimes made. Bubblegum was bent over her desk, pen clutched in a death grip and her eyes had rings beneath them. The silly woman didn’t know when to call it a day and go to sleep.

Bubblegum sighed softly and took her glasses off, checking the clock on the wall. She rubbed her eyes and stood, stretching. Pacing to her wardrobe, she rummaged around inside for a moment before re-emerging with a jumper that she slipped on over her night gown. She tottered back over to her desk and flopped down, resting her elbows on the wood and propping her chin up in her hands. Her eyelids drooped, but she forced them open and checked the clock again.

After a few minutes, in which she yawned half a dozen times, she stood and went out onto the balcony. She was muttering to herself, but Marceline, perched invisibly in the rafters couldn’t quite make out what she was saying. She wondered why Bubblegum didn’t just go to bed.

She drifted down from the ceiling and hovered next to the princess, who was now leaning tiredly on the railing. 

“You look tired,” she said. Bubblegum gasped and spun around. Seeing Marceline hanging in front of her grinning, she frowned. Suddenly the little monarch didn’t look so sleepy.

“Oh,” she said in a higher pitch than usual. “Marceline you startled me.” Bubblegum stepped around her and went back inside, knowing Marceline would follow. “I am tired.”

“So go to sleep.”

“I can’t.” Bubblegum sounded immeasurably sad and Marceline’s heart went out to her. “Too much to do.”

“Sleep is easily as important as work, Bonnie,” she said, pulling the door to, keeping the cold out. “Besides, you haven’t done anything really productive in half an hour. Just get some rest.”

Bubblegum’s eyes widened. “You’ve been here that long?” she very nearly shrieked. Then she clamped a hand over her mouth and stood perfectly still as though that would prevent people from hearing her yell.

Marceline shrugged. “I was late, so I figured you’d go to bed. I didn’t want to keep you up so I just waited.” She didn’t mention the part where Bubblegum didn’t go to bed; she herself had sat around waiting.

“Oh,” Bonnie replied, deflating. “Why were you late?” Her tired green eyes were suddenly penetrating and Marceline shifted uncomfortably. She always felt that Bonnie knew more than she ever let on. Not such a difficult thing to believe really, she was awfully smart.

“I went out with Jake and Finn today,” she said softly. “They kept me up and I slept in.”

“Hum,” Bonnie mused softly, her eyes closing again.

“Come on,” Marceline said gently. “It’s way past your bed time.”

“But…” Bubblegum protested weakly. “My research.”

Marceline laughed. “There’s always tomorrow.” She helped her friend to bed and made sure all the lights were out before leaving. “Sleep well,” she said from the balcony. A muffled sound was all the reply she got before she left.

It took her a while to think of something to do for the rest of the night. Normally she and Bubblegum would spend enough hours out doing her research that she didn’t need to come up with something. But tonight… nothing. Then she remembered the broken door and figured she might as well fix it now while she had the time.

Marceline tried to prolong the task for as much as she could, but having had to fix the door on multiple other occasions, her hands were practiced at the task. She finished too soon and ended up playing music for a while. Marceline couldn’t find words to go with the tune and that worried her, all she could do was strum the chords.

In the end she gave up and went to bed a full three hours before dawn.

\---

The sun was just tickling the horizon when she woke to more banging downstairs. Almost none of that dying sunlight entered the cave of course, the entrance facing south as it was, but it was enough to see by. She yawned, stretching and didn’t bother changing out of her pyjamas before dropping down the ladder hole and heading for the door. If it was Finn again there was going to be hell to pay. It was evening and she had a promise to keep, not even his jubilance would keep her from it today.

She wrenched the door open with a fierce growl and her eyes widened when she saw Lady at the door. Thankfully she was wearing her translator. Old Marceline might be, but her Korean was a bit rusty.

“Sup Lady?” Marceline said groggily, floating to one side in a silent invitation. Lady slithered through the door and curled up on the floor. “You alright or what?” The Rainicorn didn’t usually number among Marceline’s regular visitors, so she counted this a somewhat bizarre visit.

“I… yes, I’m alright, thank you,” Lady said slowly, her corn coloured eyebrows drawing down into a slight frown. Marceline sighed. She’d played this game with Bonnibel plenty of times, but usually she was the difficult one hedging around questions. Never the interrogator.

“Would you like something to eat?” she queried. “I only have apples at the moment. Been a while since I went shopping…” Marceline trailed off, rubbing her chin thinking that she should do that tonight.

“No thank you,” she said, finally fixing her strange eyes on Marceline. “I want you to help me convince Bubblegum that it’s a bad idea to be cooped up all the time.” Lady shook her head. “She won’t listen to me or Peppermint and… let’s be honest, LSP isn’t exactly forceful in conversations revolving around anything except herself.” Lady’s sparkling; ever changing eyes stared intently at Marceline as though they alone could persuade her to help. “I just worry that she’s going to shrivel up in that office of hers.”

Marceline smiled. “You have no idea what you’re asking do you?” She brought her legs up and crossed them, hovering at eye level. “Bonnie doesn’t just _leave_ her work, you know. But,” she continued waving a hand, “you must be pretty desperate to try and enlist _me_ in this. I thought Peppermint still hated me for…” she didn’t finish that sentence and Lady knew better than to probe further.

Lady pursed her lips. “I’m well aware of her tenacity, Marceline. But when all else fails, it – while not necessarily advisable – can be worthwhile asking someone equally stubborn for assistance.” Her eyes shifted in their head spinning way from a light violet to a deep red. “You are just as frustrating as she is and while I have my reservations… she might just listen to you where others have failed so spectacularly.”

Silence fell between them, but Lady’s eyes never wavered. Well, they did waver, from that deep red to a mauve colour, right through the spectrum – blues, indigoes, ocean green, the sun in the morning, the sky during winter – all the way back to the intense violet from whence they’d started. But she didn’t seem about to falter in her pursuit of Marceline’s help.

She looked sort of shocked when Marceline burst out smiling. “What do you think I do when I visit, Lady?” she asked. It was only mostly rhetorical. “I’ve been trying to get her out of that stuffy room for weeks. I might even have succeeded a few times.” Her smile turned into a grin that made Lady frown again. “I do have one question though, if I may?” She didn’t wait for Lady to nod before asking, “Why didn’t you ask Finn? That kid can get anything he wants.”

Lady bristled. “I… I did think of that. But with Flame Princess involved and her temperamental nature it seemed ill advised to bring up such a sensitive subject. She and Princess Bubblegum don’t get on.”

Marceline’s smile thinned. “Yeah. I did notice that. Well.” She glided upright and headed to the kitchen. “Once I’ve grabbed breakfast I’ll be on my way then,” she said, burying her face in the cool air of the fridge. “You coming with me or what?”

“No,” Lady replied simply. She uncurled from the floor and made for the door.

“What?” Marceline asked startled, turning to face the Rainicorn. “You don’t want to make sure I behave myself?” She asked the question cheekily and impaled an apple on one fang. She knew that her drinking colour made Lady uncomfortable, but they both preferred it over the alternative.

Lady sighed. “I think… in this instance… my involvement would only be a giveaway of my intentions. If she finds out we’re… conspiring – and that’s precisely what it will be to her mind, don’t argue – she’ll just dig her heels in. Then we’ll be back to square one.”

Marceline had to admit that Lady had a point. “So what? You want me to do this by _myself_? Wow, tough gig.” She shrugged, tossing the now grey apple in the trash can. “I can do that. Just don’t let Peppermint find out I’m helping you alright? He’ll bust a seam… crack in two…? I dunno, but he won’t be happy.”

“Thank you,” Lady said softly before swirling – yeah, she swirled – out the door.

“No worries,” Marceline whispered. _What did I just agree to_?

\---

After changing into something that wasn’t her pyjamas, Marceline headed off to the palace. It was still early; the sun’s light peeking above the mountains, so she didn’t hurry. Even so, when she arrived the last of the purple wasn’t quite done draining from the sky. Bubblegum wouldn’t be finished with her afternoon meetings yet and she’d stop on her way to her room to get food, so Marceline would have to wait.

Not that it bothered her. She sat on the balcony, swinging her legs over the drop and watched the little candy people hustling about their business. She should have brought her guitar with. Oh well.

It was a surprisingly short time later that her sensitive ears picked up a soft _patter-ptt_ on the carpet outside the tower room. Marceline twisted silently and let herself in, as usual, and sat on a beam spanning the ceiling. She leaned back into the wood and waited in the dark room for Bubblegum.

“… Peppermint, I’m sure,” came her muffled voice as the door creaked softly. “No don’t bother.” Her foot appeared at the bottom of the door and she wiggled through, her tongue between her teeth. Carefully she elbowed the door open wider and staggered a little off balance into the room. Her arms were full of papers, tubes, strange metal devices and other probably scientific doodads that Marceline couldn’t fathom a use for. No food though. A pencil was stuck in the gum behind her ear. She hipped the door closed, almost tipping headfirst into the carpet and scattering papers everywhere.

“Gumshanks,” she cursed softly, turning away to deposit the rest of her load on her desk. Marceline dropped quietly from the ceiling and picked up the sheets, bundling them into the neatest piles she could manage. “Butter-brittle,” Bubblegum swore again, ripping her pencil from her hair and scratching furiously across one paper. “How did _that_ come out so wrong?”

Invisible, Marceline hovered closer and stealthily placed the pile of paper on the desk at Bubblegum’s elbow. The other woman didn’t even notice, so engrossed she was in her work. Marceline floated at her shoulder, reading bits and nonsensical pieces of what was scrawled across the pages. It was mostly gibberish to her, but she got the impression that Bubblegum was working on a formula for making lights that didn’t involve fire. She frowned, wondering why she’d be bothered doing that. 

Marceline slipped closer, trying to decipher the more recent and hastily written notations made in a tight spider-scrawl down the margins of one sheet. It looked like a formula of some kind, but Bubblegum was scribbling so fast that Marceline couldn’t keep up. Plus she had trouble wrapping her head around the stuff Bubblegum wrote most of the time anyway.

Bubblegum paused, her pencil hanging slightly above the page, her pink brows knotted into a slight frown. When she placed the tip back on the paper she did it so slowly Marceline wondered if the space had been there to begin with. She wrote sluggishly now, deliberate and careful. One word appeared in a much neater hand as her pencil moved across the top of the paper: lightning?

Marceline snorted, stirring Bubblegum’s hair, causing her to sit up straight and smack the back of her head into Marceline’s cheek. She dropped her invisibility and snatched the pencil out of the air as it rolled off the table. Bubblegum very nearly punched her in the face too before Marceline stopped the fist with her other hand.

“Calm down, Bonnie, it’s just me,” she said, smiling.

The other woman glared fiercely at her. “How long have you been there?” she demanded in a shrill tone. She snatched her pencil from Marceline and slammed it to the table.

Marceline tilted her head. “Oh… a while.” Her smile never slipped. “Come on, I have something to show you.” She stuck her hand out.

Bubblegum didn’t even look at it. “What’s so funny about this?” she asked with a sharp gesture at the notes on the table.

She shrugged. “I just don’t think you can use lightning to make a torch, Bon. Too unpredictable.”

“I’m practiced at dealing with the unpredictable,” Bonnie muttered under her breath. Her eyes glanced to the floor and widened slightly. “Where did my papers go?”

Marceline pointed one slender finger at the pile on the corner of her desk. “You mean those?”

Bubblegum sifted through them, still murmuring nonsense to herself. “Yeah these,” she finally said more audibly. “Did you pick them up?”

She nodded, flipping onto her back and crossing her ankles. “So what? You’d completely forgotten they were even there.”

“I… thank you,” Bonnibel said gently, standing.

Marceline hunched her shoulders. “Ease up. It’s just a stack of paper.”

“You’re here early tonight,” the little woman noted, eyes on the clock. “Did you remember to set your alarm this evening?” Her tone was teasing but Marceline frowned at her anyway.

“Are we gonna go or what?” she asked, waving her hand at Bubblegum. “Do you wanna just stand here all night?” Bubblegum looked from her hand to her face a few times, green eyes piercing and making Marceline feel all uncomfortable again. Finally she sighed and took the hand she was offered.

“Fine,” she grumped. “Where are we going then?”

Marceline flashed her a cheeky smile. “You’ll have to hold on tight and find out.”


	3. Chapter 3

Her hand was cool. It made her shiver, despite her jumper. Marceline pulled her close and swept her up around the knees and shoulders. Bonnie was forced to throw her arms around her friend’s neck lest she fall. She pressed her face to Marceline’s shoulder as they burst through the doors of her balcony and soared up above the kingdom. Her grip contracted and Marceline chuckled, squeezing her a little tighter.

“Don’t worry, Bon,” she said in her ear so she could hear over the wind. “I’m not going to drop you.”

In truth, Bonnie wasn’t so much worried about Marceline letting her fall, she trusted the vampire and was experienced flying like this, they did it regularly. What scared her was the possibility that something would happen and Marceline wouldn’t catch her in time. She unhooked one arm and watched the rolling plains pass by beneath them, she even tried to lean out and watch the moonlight wink off the surface of the river as it wound around her lands, but Marceline kept her ear pressed firmly against her chest.

They hadn’t really been flying long before Marceline began to descend. Bubblegum checked the position of the moon but it was quite early, probably not much past six. She was looking around, wondering what was so special about this seemingly mundane field when Marceline unceremoniously dumped her on the ground.

Bubblegum bit back a scream as she dropped the last few feet between her and the earth, scrunched her eyes shut and covered her face with her hands. When she didn’t crash painfully though she opened her eyes a slit and looked around. The grass was… squishy and about hip high. It had broken her fall and every move she made was springy, as though she was standing on her bed.

“You said you wouldn’t drop me,” she accused the vampire floating just in front of her. Pointed teeth shining in the soft light as she grinned shamelessly. Then she flopped down beside Bubblegum, bouncing on the strange grass.

“Well I knew the fall wouldn’t hurt you,” she said, laughter bubbling in her throat. “And I figured you’d want to test the limits of its abilities. That’s what your scientific brain wants right? To understand everything?”

Bubblegum opened her mouth but had no response to that. She was right. Instead, she turned her gaze on the grass and peered at it intently, hoping it would reveal its secrets. Other than being a red-purple colour, muted by the moonlight, it looked like any other grass. Tentatively she pressed her finger to the end of one blade and bent it over. When she let go it wobbled back upright and… blobbed… Yes it blobbed, there was no other word for it.

“What is this?” she asked softly, squishing a blade beneath her palm. Amazed, she watched it _blob_ back to its original shape. “This isn’t grass.”

Marceline laughed now. “Yes it is. It’s _jelly_ grass.” She stood up on the wobbling ground. “Do you know what the best part about jelly grass is?” she asked, setting her head on the side and shooting Bubblegum a knowing look.

Her mind raced, trying to think of anything practical one could do with jelly grass. Other than garnish, she was coming up blank. Unless Marceline meant it had some scientific application but… Marceline didn’t think like that. She shook her head and had to choke back another squeal as Marceline grabbed her around the waist and threw her into the air.

“Marceliiiiine!” she shrieked, waving her arms as she hurtled back at the ground. Marceline only chuckled and watched her fall. She closed her eyes again, sure that this time she’d smash through the jelly.

Instead she squashed the grass and as it straightened beneath her, sent her shooting back up again. She didn’t quite make it as high as her initial flight, which meant that eventually she’d come to a stop, but she wasn’t looking forward to bouncing that high as many times as it would no doubt take. Thankfully, Marceline snagged her from the air and lowered her gently back to the grass.

Bubblegum fisted her in the chest, the shoulders, the stomach before the vampire could wrap her hands up. She was quivering, in her mind it was with indignation, but it probably had more to do with adrenaline or… fear. It didn’t matter how hard she struggled to break free from Marceline’s grip, her friend was too strong. In the end she simply sagged, knees shaking, buckling and she sank to the ground.

“That was mean, Marceline,” she whispered. Her shoulders shook.

Her friend drifted towards her and sat down. “You know I’d never hurt you right, Bon?” she asked, reaching up to put a hand on Bubblegum’s knee. Her stomach twinged. She put it down to not having eaten yet. “Hey.” Bonnie looked at her, she could feel her eyes sting and she hoped it wasn’t tears. “Not ever.”

Bubblegum sighed. “Yeah,” she exhaled. “I know that. But geez, you could give a girl some warning.”

Marceline cackled suddenly. “Oh but what fun would that be?” She was back to her impish self, the brief moment of tender reassurance gone. Like lightning. Her chest twanged as the other woman smiled at her and she forced a smile back, praying it fooled her. “Do you know what else is good about jelly grass?” she pressed, nonchalantly, picking individual blades from the ground and laying them out on her stomach. Her fingers danced, doing something to the grass, but she was doing her best to keep it from Bubblegum.

Bonnie shook her head. “You can do something more amazing than jump on them?” she asked sarcastically.

The vampire’s smile widened, fangs flashing. “Of course you can. Did you think I’d bring you here for no other reason than to jump on the grass?”

Bubblegum raised one eyebrow. “I wouldn’t put it past you, actually.”

Marceline scooped up the jelly and floated closer, holding up a piece of braided grass. “Dinner time,” she whispered. “And this time it’s an experiment.” She sucked the colour out of the braid and passed it to Bubblegum.

Bonnie frowned, taking the braid gingerly between her thumb and forefinger. She wondered briefly what Marceline wanted her to do with it then it hit her. “You want me to eat it?” she exclaimed.

Her friend chortled. “You’ve been bugging me for close to five hundred years now, Bon,” she said with a shrug. “Figured I might as well let you try it.”

She rolled the braid between her fingers, lips pressed into a thin line as she thought. It was only colourless. Marceline didn’t suck _life_ from things, just their colours. So… theoretically it shouldn’t hurt her. But then… what did she really know about vampires. Marceline always hedged around her questions, there could be something else to it. And her friend was ever one for pranks. Then she remembered what Marceline had said earlier and forced her mind to stop thinking too hard.

Taking one last hard look at the grass, she ate it. It was somewhat chewier than regular jelly, but that was to be expected. For it to thrive out here it must be fairly hardy. What surprised her was the taste. It was grape flavoured. Her eyes widened.

“It didn’t lose its flavour,” she said, back straightening. “When you suck the colour, the taste is the same. That’s incredible.” She beamed.

“See? We both just learned something.” Marceline flipped upside down, her hair pooling on the grass at the bottom of a midnight waterfall. She drained another braid and passed it to Bubblegum. 

“Now we can run an experiment to determine the sustaining properties left over once you’ve drained the food,” Bubblegum said happily, bouncing gently on the grass. “I wonder if I could live off colourless food for a week the same way I can with regular food…” she mused. Marceline laughed and the sound was like bells.

“Only you can turn fields of springy jelly grass into a week-long science thing,” Marceline murmured, dropping another braid on Bubblegum’s lap. “I should make you leave your brain in that dungeon you call a home. Teach you how to have some proper fun for once.”

“Would you do this with me, Marcy?” she asked, looking up from the colourless jelly. “Please?” She ignored the previous statement, deciding that it was better not to start an argument with her.

“What? Eat all the colour in your food?” she asked startled. The look on her face was so surprised that Bubblegum almost laughed as she righted herself in the air. “For a week?”

“Yes.”

Marceline’s mouth moved like a fish; open, closed, open, closed. “Uh… sure I guess. Why?”

“To see if it’s as nourishing as food you haven’t sapped of colour.”

She shrugged. “Alright then. Seems harmless to me.” She tossed another braid over her shoulder, hitting Bubblegum in the forehead. The intolerable woman didn’t even apologise, just smiled. “You’re trying to fatten me up aren’t you?”

Bubblegum frowned. A fat vampire… was that even possible? She opened her mouth to ask but Marceline was grinning at her in a way that made her shiver. “What?” she asked instead.

“I know that look, Bonnie,” she said, handing over yet more jelly. “That’s your I-just-thought-of-something-that-would-make-an-interesting-experiment look. But I won’t be your lab rat for two science things. Not at the same time.”

“But they overlap!” Bubblegum burst out. “I might as well test for both at the same time. Unless you want to spend even more time in the palace?”

Impossible though it seemed, Marceline’s smile broadened. “Now _there’s_ an idea…” she mused. “You realise for me to suck all the colour out of your kitchen I’d have to stay in the palace anyway.” She waved a hand holding some jelly between them like leaves blowing on a breeze. “Otherwise you could cheat and I can’t have that. Gotta keep you honest, Bon.”

Bubblegum blushed. Like she’d ever cheated in her life! “You’re insufferable,” she grouched.

Her smile turned into laughter again, water in a stream over polished stones. “And you just invited me to stay with you for a week. Oh the injustice forced upon you!” She said it with severity, but her expression betrayed her.

She harrumphed and crossed her arms, refusing to take any more of Marceline’s jelly. Her heart thudded painfully. “Where am I even going to keep you?” she asked softly. It was mostly to herself, but Marceline would no doubt hear it anyway. “And how am I going to explain it to the staff?”

“Bon, they’re so used to your quirks by now they’d accept any excuse you could dream up,” Marceline told her flatly. “But you know… the truth works perfectly fine. I am merely your colour remover for a week.” She gave a mock bow mid-air. “What are they going to do? Tell you that the experiment isn’t allowed? They don’t talk to their princess like that.”

Bubblegum nodded. “You are right. Come on, we should get back so I can write up a draft and set down my hypothesis. Best to do that before any more information comes in…”

“Uh-uh,” Marceline said, arms behind her back, she pushed her face at Bubblegum. “If we go back to that sky-high cell of yours it’s so you can sleep. You hear me?”

Bubblegum sighed, her chest felt all tight and she looked away. “Sure. Sleep.”

“Very good.” Marceline held out her arms and Bonnie crossed her wrists behind the vampire’s neck, allowing herself to be swept up again. “You don’t sleep enough, Bonnibel.” They backtracked and this time Bubblegum didn’t try to sightsee, she focused on the silhouetted profile of her friend instead and wondered what it was like to be so free.

Happily, the room was empty when they arrived and Marceline set her gently down on the balcony. She was always so careful, like she thought Bubblegum would break. Perhaps that was an avenue of investigation she could pursue while the vampire was her guest…

Marceline closed the door behind them and lit the lamp, pulling the curtains to before slouching into Bubblegum’s armchair. She closed her eyes as the princess went about getting ready for bed. Her friend might be somewhat unrefined, but she wasn’t totally without manners. Once Bubblegum emerged from her bathroom however, red eyes watched her intently.

“What?” Bonnie asked her, shrugging her shoulders to settle the night gown.

“Just making sure you actually do sleep.”

Bonnie blinked. “Where will you sleep?”

Marceline chuckled. “I don’t need much sleep, Bon,” she was reminded. “Plus if I’m going to be spending time here I’ll have to get things from home. My bass, day clothes, that kinda thing. Then I imagine I’ll just sit up in your rafters.” Her ruby eyes glittered in the low light. “Why? Where did you imagine I’d be sleeping?”

“The closet,” Bubblegum replied simply.

“No thanks. Go to bed.”

True to her word, Marceline watched her until she had the covers up around her chin. Then the lights went out, plunging the room into darkness. With the curtains pulled there wasn’t even more than a thin ribbon of moonlight slicing across the floor. A rustle told her Marceline had moved, but that was all she heard.

A humming came from above her, the tone familiar, the voice comforting. It washed over her in waves of silk and the whisper of trees on a midsummer’s eve. The breeze in the mountains, bells chiming the hour, a late night rain shower. Bubblegum slept, and for the first time in a while, it was a sound, peaceful sleep, untroubled by worries and doubts. She smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

Apparently, the princess led a very busy life. And she _insisted_ on dragging Marceline with her everywhere. The vampire would roll her eyes and drift higher, but Bubblegum was a forceful person when she wanted to be. And… not a little defensive about her experiments. She wasn’t afraid to use them as leverage.

“But what if there’s snacks?” she would ask of her friend. “If you’re not there to drain the colour what happens?”

Marceline’s usual reply was, “You go hungry.” But that wasn’t good enough for Bubblegum. Oh no. Marceline wondered whether the other woman understood moderation. She didn’t have to eat what was put in front of her. Yet she did. At every single meeting.

Which is why at about midday, Marceline was slouched in a chair next to Bubblegum at a table in the hall, surrounded by candy people. Every week Bubblegum hosted a lunch for all the candy nobility and they seemed a bit put out by Marceline’s presence at this meeting. What Marceline couldn’t understand was why it had to be every week.

She had one finger outstretched, pushing strawberries around on her plate, occasionally, she’d dip the finger in whatever that sauce was, and draw lines with it. A fellow with a pretzel moustache kept shooting her funny glances from across the table. Of course next to her, Bubblegum kept nudging her with her foot, trying to get her to stop fidgeting, but she was just so bored. Bubblegum had explained Marceline’s presence at the start, but they still gave her curious glances every time she ate a colourless strawberry.

“Princess, we are concerned,” muttered the cream puff woman on Bonnie’s other side. Marceline supposed she wasn’t meant to hear it and the puff leaned in closer to Bubblegum. “A vampire for a friend isn’t something that’s… well received by the public.” She kept her voice low, but without meaning to Marceline picked up every word. She felt her ears warm and her stomach turn to lead. The puff was right.

Bonnie was quiet a long time and Marceline wondered what she was thinking. “I should think that maintaining good relations with the vampires would be something to praise,” Bubblegum said in a regular tone. It sounded only a little bit defensive, but then, as princess, she shouldn’t really have to explain things to these people. Marceline never explained herself.

The puff sat back, adjusting her fluffy hair. Her lips were pursed in an unsatisfied manner and she shot a glare at Marceline behind Bubblegum’s back. The vampire couldn’t help but smile, her heart warming. That was odd. Bubblegum didn’t notice.

Lunch dragged on, as Marceline had known it would. She stopped paying attention, hearing only spatters of conversation, her name on whispers down the far end of the table once or twice, no more. Bonnie glanced at her a few times with a frown on her delicate features, but Marceline made it her mission to remain seemingly engrossed by the ever dwindling fruit on her plate.

It wasn’t until a little pink hand wrapped itself around her wrist a few hours later that she realised anything had changed. She looked up; losing count of how many seeds adorned the last strawberry and was met by big green eyes. The table was empty, most of the plates cleared away.

“Are you alright, Marcy?” Bubblegum asked gently.

“Two hundred and fourteen,” Marceline whispered, her brain taking overly long to understand the question. She sighed. “Yeah, just bored.”

“What…?” Bonnie didn’t finish the question, perhaps realising that it was a stupid thing to ask. “Sorry. They sure can waffle sometimes.” She smiled slightly when it occurred to her that she’d just said something mildly amusing.

“Waffles,” Marceline murmured. She looked up at the clock. Brittlesticks, no wonder she was tired, she’d been awake for way too many hours. Wait… no, that wasn’t right. She shrugged off Bubblegum’s hand and floated up to the ceiling. Living in the palace was hard, and being the royal food de-colourer was even more so.

“Marceline?” Bubblegum called from below her.

“Mmm?”

“Will you come back down?”

She shook her head, trying to regather whatever wit still rattled around inside. Why had she agreed to do this again? Marceline drifted with slightly less grace than usual, back down to sit mid-air beside Bubblegum. Her friend looked worried, pink brows knitted concernedly and a gentle downward curve to her mouth. 

Marceline smiled. “What’s up, Bonnie?”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Course. Why wouldn’t I be?” The expression on her face was gut wrenching, but Marceline just kept smiling at her. Eventually Bubblegum’s face softened and she returned the smile. Oh yes, that’s why she’d agreed. An ache formed in her chest, like her lungs were doing backflips or something.

“Good. I’m sorry that was so boring. They’re awfully uninteresting people.”

She laughed. “You can say that again.” Marceline rolled back and stuffed her hands in her pockets. “That one cream puff really doesn’t like me.”

Bubblegum shifted uncomfortably. “Yes well… They’ll just have to get over it.” Backflips… more like her insides were trying to contort themselves into shapes they weren’t supposed to.

“So what other tedium do you have planned for your afternoon?” Marceline queried. “I can probably take anything now. I’ve counted seeds on strawberries, I defy boredom.”

The princess tapped two fingers against her lips, eyes unfocused as she thought. “Hum… nothing I don’t think. Although I do have to take down the notes on this new eating arrangement. It was simply fascinating…” She trailed off, her fingers absently tracing patterns on the table.

Marceline opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get a single word out the doors banged open. A stream of late afternoon sunlight crashed across the room and Marceline hissed, curling into a smoky puddle and vanishing into a dark crevice in the ceiling. She clutched her little bat paws to the strut, shivering, her fur smoking. Bubblegum looked up at her, that painful expression on her face once more making Marceline feel awful. She looked about to scold someone and storm off, but then Finn and Jake appeared through the glare.

“Hey P-Bubs!” Finn exclaimed, skipping over to her. Bubblegum was still watching Marceline and Finn had to wave a hand in front of her face before she tore her gaze away. “Whatcha doing?”

“Oh, hello Finn,” she muttered distractedly. “Hey Jake. I was just going to work on an experiment I’m conducting.”

“Cool. Let’s not do that. LSP is having a party, wanna come?”

Marceline knew exactly what Bubblegum would say before the words were even thought of. Bonnie used Flame Princess like a cudgel when it came to Finn. She might not be cruel by nature – most of the time anyway – but she was very bad at handling her little… conundrum. Let Finn down? Yes, she’d done that. Made him understand to keep a little more distance? Not so much.

But that’s not what Bubblegum said.

“Hmm, I really would like to,” she said slowly, tapping her lip again. “But this experiment is rather important. And… it makes going to anything less than a controlled environment rather difficult. Too many variables.”

“What the hey?” Finn asked. “What kind of experiment are you running, Prubs?”

“It’s got to do with food.” Bubblegum looked lost in thought. That didn’t bode well for Marceline, still smoking in the rafters. 

She shifted slightly, thinking to shut the doors. But the light was globdamn everywhere and it blinded her, setting her eyebrows smouldering. She croaked and hid behind the post again, grumbling. Daywalkers!

“Hey I’m a big fan of food,” Jake said, his head morphing into a sandwich shaped blob. His hands became a knife and fork and a napkin grew from his neck. “What are we eating?”

“Mmm,” was all Bubblegum said. Her eyes roved across the hall, but not really seeing anything. They landed on Marceline, quivering above her and snapped back to her current dimension. She smiled softly. “Oh… just something I’ve wanted to try for a long time.” Marceline blinked. She was definitely reading too much into that. “You’d probably find it very boring.” The vampire doubted that. Finn at least would find it horribly entertaining.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Jake’s body resumed its regular form. “I don’t like being told what to eat.” Finn shuddered at the thought.

“LSP will be devastated if you don’t come though,” Finn pressed. “Are you sure your experiment can’t wait just one night? It’ll be fun!”

Bubblegum shook her head, resolve firming. “No, tell her I’m sorry, but I couldn’t make it.” Something in her tone made Marceline think… what? She shook her head; Bubblegum wasn’t the kind of girl to leave things unsaid.

Jake snatched at his friend’s sleeve. “C’mon buddy,” he said. “Leave Bubblegum to her tests and papers.” Finn sighed, his shoulders slumped in defeat, but let Jake tug him towards the doors. Jake murmured something to him, however, and he perked up, his pace increasing as he bolted out the doors.

“Shut them behind you please!” Bubblegum called after them. Long golden arms stretched from the bottom of the stairs to wrench the double doors closed with a bang. The light in the room disappeared, sliced off. Eyes strained slightly, she stood there for a moment before sinking into her chair, hands folded in the lap of her powder pink dress.

Marceline shifted back into her usual shape and flopped from the ceiling. She put her elbows on Bubblegum’s knees and peered up at her. “Hey, Bon… what’s up?”

Bonnie took a deep breath. Very deep. “Nothing Marcy, let’s go. I want to get this information down before I forget.”

Marceline tilted her head. Something in the way Bubblegum had spoken made her think something was amiss. Then she shrugged, not really wanting to read into whatever it was. Probably nothing anyway. “Sure, whatever.” Wrapping her fingers around her friend’s wrists, Marceline dragged the other woman from her seat. “Let’s get to it. Ain’t got all afternoon you know.”

Bubblegum lifted one eyebrow, the corners of her mouth quirking with a smile she tried not to let out. “Why? Got a date or something?”

The vampire let her go hastily and scrubbed the backs of her hands across her face, turning, trying to hide the expression she knew was painted there. If her heart could beat it would be going three times the usual rate. “Or something,” she growled, floating off, out the room and up the hall. Bubblegum had to trot to catch up.

“Hey!” the princess called, hiking up her skirts to stay at Marceline’s side. “What? Your mood went sour quickly.”

Marceline huffed. “Yeah well… it’s nothing.” She flashed her teeth. “Just uh… heard you wrong. That’s all.”

Placated, Bubblegum reduced her pace and Marceline, not wanting to float off without her – she didn’t want to be accosted by the damn staff – slowed too. They wound through the palace side by side, Marceline ignoring the glances Bubblegum shot her. So… maybe she hadn’t fooled her after all.

Marceline opened the door to the princess’s rooms with a mock bow, thinking perhaps a little obnoxious flair would convince the other woman she was fine. She was, really. There was nothing wrong with her. It was probably just after effects of having the sun shining in her eyes. Yeah, that was it.

It didn’t take long before Bonnie was nose deep in ink and paper, her pen _skritch-skrching_ across the parchment. Her tongue was caught between her teeth as she worked. There was even a blot of ink on the end of her nose. Marceline didn’t believe it would really take that long for her to make a few notes, but before she’d finished a maid had brought up a tray of food, all of which was red, per the princess’s request. The kitchen staff had been somewhat perplexed by her wishes that morning, yet they were all practiced at dealing with Bonnie’s strange behaviour, and, just as Marceline had predicted, took it in their stride. In fact, Bubblegum took so long to complete her notes that Marceline had drained the platter and gotten bored again. She almost took out her bass, but figured Bonnie couldn’t be too much longer, surely.

“C’mon, Bon,” Marceline pleaded. The clock read nearly eight as she hovered over her friend’s shoulder. Her hands rested lightly on the princess’s shoulders and Bubblegum shivered. “Sorry. I always forget that…” Her temperature was lower than Bonnie’s and with the window open she must feel like ice. “Can we go now?”

Bonnie seemed to wake up instantly, her eyes meeting Marceline’s not without a little surprise. She’d forgotten where she was. Typical.

“Oh,” she said seeing the clock. “Will we eat first?” Her green eyes blinked innocently, but Marceline had a suspicion that Bubblegum just didn’t want to leave her tower.

“I’ve already eaten,” Marceline informed her flatly. “We’re taking your dinner with us. You’re not going to wiggle out of this so easily, Bon.”

It defied belief; Bubblegum pouted. A most unladylike face to pull. “Fine,” she sighed. “What torture have you lined up for me this evening?”

Marceline chuckled. While she’d had plenty of time to think of something to do, she’d admit only to herself having expended little brain power on the subject. “Oh… I don’t know. Probably something else mysterious.” Bubblegum set about gathering some blank parchment and slipped her pencil behind her ear. “Oh no,” Marceline laughed, gently removing the paper from her friend’s hands. “Leave it. Tonight your brain stays here.” She leaned in and plucked the pencil from the gum of her hair and dropped it in the tray on her desk. “Your science stays here. Tonight you’re just going to enjoy it,” Marceline whispered.

Mauve flooded Bubblegum’s cheeks and she spun away, bounding from her chair and sliding past Marceline. She busied herself by putting the food in a container and placing it in her bag. Following that she pulled a jumper from her closet and threw it on without even looking at it. Consequently she didn’t understand Marceline’s amusement: she’d put it on inside out.

“Let’s get going then,” she said no doubt a little more harshly than she intended. But Marceline’s smile didn’t waver, she just held out her hands. Bubblegum paused only a moment before taking them, shivering slightly again.

“Are you cold?” Marceline asked her gently. “Do you want gloves?”

Bubblegum shook her head. “I’m not cold. Let’s go already. You did insist.” The way she said it made it seem there was something she’d like to add to that and Marceline’s smile turned impish.

“I did at that.” She knocked the princess off her feet, sweeping her up, arms around knees and shoulders. “Hold on tight, Bonnibel.” In response, Bubblegum wrapped her arms around Marceline’s neck and did just that.


	5. Chapter 5

Tonight was different to the last few. It seemed shorter, their distance less. They disappeared into a forest this time, trees pressing close and dark around them. Bubblegum tightened her hold on her friend and received an encouraging squeeze in return. There was always a weightless feeling when they flew, as if all her troubles were being left behind in their wake. Eddies of anxiety spiralling away, washed clear by the fresh air. She’d never say it, but she was eternally grateful to Marceline for these trips. They did make her feel better. Weightless. 

Her scientific brain knew that was silly. Everything had mass, regardless of what their altitude was. It was just a feeling, a lurching in her stomach, not entirely unpleasant, but different. A feeling she associated with flying. With Marceline.

The vampire slowed almost imperceptibly then stopped altogether. She swung Bonnie down and checked her footing to make sure she wouldn’t fall. So careful all the time. Her mental note from the previous evening popped up and she reinforced her resolve to ask about it.

“In here,” said Marceline softly. She was holding back a tangle of vines and Bonnie peered inside, worried suddenly by the absolute darkness beyond. “Don’t worry, Bon,” her friend reassured her. “It’s perfectly safe. I’m not about to take you somewhere dangerous.”

Bonnie stepped inside cautiously and hastily took a side step so Marceline could file in beside her. She couldn’t see anything and reached out to grab Marceline’s sleeve. She missed. Marceline chuckled softly and Bonnie felt her cool fingers slide between her own. Her heart thudded.

“I promise it’s safe,” she whispered again. “And it’s not this dark everywhere. Trust me.”

And she did.

Bonnie paused to analyse that momentarily. She didn’t normally trust so unconditionally… Hmm… What was it? Which variable made it so easy? Marceline tugged on her hand and she set that line of thought aside for later. Instead, she simply allowed the vampire’s night vision to lead her to… wherever they were going.

It didn’t take long for her to realise that what Marceline had said about it not staying this dark was unequivocally true. Little pin points of light glittered all around them, but the air still felt compressed and smelt of loam and grass. She squinted at them, trying to work out if it was moonlight filtering through the snarl of vines around them.

“It’s not stars and it’s not the moon,” Marceline told her softly. The whole place had an air of sacredness about it, as if talking to loud would shatter its peace. Bubblegum mused silently on what her friend had said. If not moonlight then what? “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

She shot a surprised glance in Marceline’s general direction and would have sworn she could see a glint of teeth in the almost pitch black. “When did you become a mind reader?” she asked in the quietest indignant tone she could manage.

“I’m not,” Marceline laughed, a tinkling sound that seemed inappropriate coming from a vampire. “I just know you very well, Bonnibel.”

A ribbon of soft light shimmered somewhere in front of them. Bonnie once again strained her eyes, trying to make it out, her grip on Marceline’s hand contracting. She wished she’d brought her glasses.

It was an abrupt transition; one Bonnie was not prepared for. One minute they were walking through a tunnel of vines and the next they’d walked into a grand open space. It was a cave, but made of vines. The air smelled less cramped and musky, but still not quite fresh. That wasn’t what made her gasp however.

The room was full of light. Little clumps of glowing orange and yellow. A stream ran straight through the middle of the room and that was what had made the slight band of light she’d seen before as it reflected the illumination.

“What…?” Bonnie asked, trying to formulate the question in the way she wanted. “How…?” Not a question Marceline would likely answer. “What is that? Making the light.”

“Firebugs,” Marceline replied simply.

Bonnie frowned. “Why… did you bring me here?”

Marceline let her hand go and something flickered in Bubblegum’s chest… regret? Her friend floated around in front of her. “Can’t you just once look at something pretty and see it for what it is? Not what it _could_ be?” Her crimson eyes spoke volumes, but whatever was written in them was in a language Bonnie didn’t know. “It’s glowing bugs, Bonnie,” she said, softer this time, less harsh. “And they’re awesome. Accept that and pretend nothing else is relevant.”

Guilt slugged her in the stomach. Surely it wasn’t so hard to do what Marceline asked. She tried. For her friend.

Bubblegum sucked in a deep breath and looked at the room like she might have when she were younger. The little sparkling lights clustered all over the vines glittered gold and silver. Dust motes and flecks of light in every hue imaginable spun around the bugs and danced through the air. The floor was dusted with green moss, soft and cushiony beneath her feet, little round leaves sprouted from the vines, which weren’t so tightly woven here. Wan moonlight flickered through in places from above, but wasn’t strong enough to outshine the insects.

Only one word came to mind when she stopped to just stare. “Magical…”

Marceline grinned. “Now you’re thinking.” She slipped closer and slid the straps of Bubblegum’s bag over her shoulder. “Not so hard is it?” Marceline’s whispered voice was so close. Her stomach lurched again. It wasn’t a disagreeable feeling, but she still wished it would go away. Her heart made a lump in her throat that she couldn’t speak around and her head felt… empty. Like a blank slate. It was… dizzying. That intense ruby gaze was all she could see, all she could feel. Heat turned her face a darker pink.

Then Marceline leaned back and the spell was broken. Bubblegum shook herself, taking the food she was offered in hands that shook only a little. Marceline took her coat off and spread it on a rock so Bonnie wouldn’t have to sit on the cold damp rock then drifted lazily over the stream, staring up at the bugs.

“Although,” the vampire mused. “I might’ve had another reason for bringing you here. Besides teaching you not to be so clinical all the time.” Something flared in Bonnie’s chest and was quickly extinguished, dropping like lead to her toes. Marceline pulled a small glass vial from her back pocket and brandished it like… a sword, perhaps. 

“What kind of reason?” Bubblegum asked faintly, still having trouble getting rid of that cursed lump.

Her friend’s smile grew slightly. “Well, I was thinking about you trying to use lightning as a light… torch… whatever. But that’s just impractical. So… firebugs. Alternative.”

“I don’t like the idea of imprisoning living creatures, Marceline,” Bonnie said flatly, eating her food slowly. It truly was marvellous.

“I didn’t mean for you to just stuff them in jars and stuff,” Marceline told her like she was talking to an idiot. “But their… glowing has to be… I dunno, scientific right? I bet you could work out how they do it.”

Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “You’re _condoning_ an experiment?” she all but screeched. “But… what happened to science being stupid?”

The vampire shrugged. “I’m sure it has its uses. Lighting your palace without fire could be one.” She waved the vial again. “Samples?”

If Marceline hadn’t been so far away, Bonnie could have hugged her. “Oh yes,” she nodded excitedly. “That’s an excellent idea. I’ll start working on it as soon as we get back.”

Her friend grinned. It was almost childish, pure and happy. Bubblegum smiled back.

While Bonnie finished her meal, still smiling, Marceline scraped several little clumps of the bugs into her bottle and stoppered it. Bubblegum yawned, feeling inexplicably tired.

“Come on then, Bonnibel,” Marceline chuckled. “Looks like it’s time to get you some sleep.”

“You can’t _get_ me sleep, Marcy,” she argued half-heartedly. “But bed does sound appealing.”

Marceline slipped the bottle back into her pant pocket and scooped Bubblegum up, slinging the bag over her shoulder in the same movement. She could be quite skilled at times and utterly moronic at others. But so long as she was happy… Bubblegum yawned again.

Bonnie didn’t even notice the trip home, didn’t notice when Marceline slipped silently into her room and placed her almost tenderly in her bed. She didn’t notice having her boots removed, didn’t notice the sheets being tucked beneath her chin. She didn’t hear the words Marceline said before she left, but she did feel the cool lines the vampire’s fingers traced across the back of her hand. It sent a shiver down her spine.

\---

Marceline wasn’t there when she woke. Her bass was in the corner where it had been the last few days, but her day clothes were gone from her drawer. A plate of food sat on her desk, not a single bit of colour to be seen. Folded in half next to it was a note.

 _Bonnie_ , it read. _Had to go out today, I’ll be back this evening. Don’t worry about your precious experiment, I drained the colour of half your orchard… or maybe it just felt like that. Anyway, there’s plenty of food for you to make it through the day. Just… exercise some restraint would you_?

It wasn’t signed, but the handwriting was definitely Marceline’s. She smiled. Sometimes her friend could be really thoughtful. Then she’d do something stupid and it was easy to forget the other.

Once she’d dressed and eaten, her day progressed much as it usually did. Peppermint Butler followed her everywhere and spent half the morning trying to get her away from her stack of papers. She had far too many things to sign; requisitions, treaties, letters, complaints, any number of things. It was quite perplexing really how so many of her citizens and aristocracy could need so much of her attention.

The clock on the wall _meowed_ the time at noon and she yawned, rubbing eyes gritty from staring at the parchments for so long. A little candy girl with a gold edged blue wrapper knocked timidly on her door, peeking in cautiously.

“I have your lunch for you, Princess,” she said shyly. “The vampire lady made sure we had enough.”

“Thank you,” Bubblegum replied as gently as she could. Her people were quite special, a soft touch was needed. “Just place it here.”

The girl slid the tray onto her desk, curtsied a little awkwardly and backed out. After eating the grey foods she stood, stretching. There were still so many papers to sign, but Peppermint Butler was adamant that she spend some time outside each day. If he knew what she did in the evenings he might change his tune. Then again, he might completely lose it too. She wouldn’t risk it.

Shuffling some of her papers together, she put her glasses back on and grabbed a pen. Spend some time in the gardens, yes. Neglect her duties, no. The gardens were nice in the afternoons, the multi-coloured candy trees gave lovely shade and a cool breeze made it comfortable even in the heat of summer.

She stopped by the kitchens to get a drink before folding her legs beneath one large tree. Her staff seemed scandalised that she wouldn’t use a chair, but it was nice to feel the grass sometimes. Peppermint Butler came out to check on her numerous times, but left, satisfied when he saw her chewing the end of her pencil, lost in thought. It was a nice day, and if she didn’t have so much work to do, it might have been easy to enjoy it.

But, a few hours later, she had to lever herself to her feet and walked dejectedly back inside. Afternoon was meeting time and she found it the most detestable, boring part of her day. Listening to people whine was awful. At least she didn’t have to entertain that day. Trying to act like she was interested in petty squabbles was draining.

By some miracle, she made it through the afternoon with only minimal ennui. Still, she was rubbing her hands over her eyes all evening. Dinner was sparse, the kitchen was running out of grey food and Marceline still wasn’t back. She set about organising notations on her experiment and her work for tomorrow. After a while though she found herself just pushing paper around aimlessly. A bad sign.

Bubblegum shook her head, trying to focus but couldn’t quite manage it. Forcing herself to work wasn’t generally a good idea, but it was better than sitting around doing nothing. Consequently she fell asleep at her desk.

 

Parchment crinkled as she lifted her head. Sun slanted in past the blinds, paper stuck to her face, her fingers stained from the ink well that tipped over in the night. She’d slept on her work. Groaning, she peeled the paper from her cheek and rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palm, careful not to get ink in them. Her hair was a mess and she drew a hand through it before remembering the ink.

“Butternuts,” she swore, pulling her hair around to look at it. Yes, as expected, long black streaks ran everywhere. “Cobblepie.” It was going to be one of those days it seemed.

She looked around but her eyes didn’t find what they were looking for. Marceline wasn’t back. Then, everything seemed to happen all at once; she was left no time to so much as get changed.

The door slammed open spewing Finn, Jake and Peppermint Butler into her rooms. “I tried to stop them, Princess,” her butler exclaimed, pressing a hand to Finn’s chest. He reached to restrain Jake too, but the dog slipped past him.

“P-Bubs!” Finn cried, exuberantly. “We’re going on a holiday!” He pushed at Peppermint but the little candy was resolute in keeping Finn back. “For a week. How awesome is that?”

“How exciting, Finn,” she said, trying to sound enthused. She didn’t think she succeeded, she was still tired. “Where are you going?”

“To visit with Flame Princess,” he said, blushing. “She’s going to show us around the Flame Kingdom.”

“Apparently it’s not safe for us to explore on our own,” Jake expanded. “Her dad can be a bit… crazy when people visit she reckons.”

Bubblegum nodded. That was surely true. “Have fun,” she said, stifling a yawn.

“Peebs, did you sleep last night?” Finn asked, frowning. 

She bobbed her head in a vague semblance of a nod. “At my desk.”

Jake and Finn exchanged glances, but then they were both smiling again. “Alright then,” Finn said, dismissing the quality of sleeping at ones desk. “We’ll be back before you know it. Don’t miss us too much!” He grabbed Jake’s ears and the dog propelled them out the balcony doors.

Bonnie watched them race through the city, over the walls and across the plains. In mere moments they were nothing more than a speck on the southern horizon. Bubblegum stood at the balcony rail for a moment, watching them disappear. Peppermint’s eyes bored into her back, then with a soft click he left.

She was unaccountably tired. Sleeping at her desk, while not the best way to becoming rested, was still sleep. So why did she feel so drained? Irrational.

So completely exhausted she felt, that she didn’t hear the gentle whoosh that wasn’t quite the sound of the wind; and was taken completely by surprise as a net dropped around her.


	6. Chapter 6

Avoiding her wasn’t going to solve her problems. If it had any effect on anything it just made so many things harder. Still she kept pacing. Back and forth along her front wall, wearing the carpet away. So much energy was boiling inside that she _had_ to walk it off. Floating was out of the question.

She’d broken the promise – if that’s what it was – she’d put in the note, and not returned to the Candy Palace the evening before. Instead, she’d spent the night completely unable to sleep or concentrate on anything at all really. Marceline had wasted the whole day pacing this one side of her room. Well… almost the whole day. It had been two days since she’d had a proper rest and she’d fallen asleep above her lounge chair around midday. 

The sun was nearly set now, only faint orange light leaking around the lip of her cave. Her feet felt as though they were tied with elastic and the other end was tethered in the tower of the palace. She kept her distance, but every time it would stretch taut and she’d be whipped back there. Against her will usually. There was nothing for her there.

Hours she paced, glancing at her clock sometimes, at her bass others. Sometimes she’d pause and stare out the window. Night cloaked the land and clouds scudded across the velvet sky. A thickening layer building. Maybe it would storm. She kept pacing. Something to keep her mind active wouldn’t go amiss.

She sighed, plucking at the hem of her shirt. Her chest felt all heavy and full of sticky goo, hard to breathe. Several times already she’d paced to the door, tapped her fingers on the handle before spinning around with a groan. This time she wouldn’t give in. But on her own she was left to marinate in her own thoughts. She needed company.

Marceline retrieved her bass from its rack and left, flying north-east. There weren’t many places she could go without causing a stir. This was one of those places. Even though she normally avoided it, sometimes it helped. Not that he understood what she was going on about.

It was well past midnight. Well past. A stroke of good fortune saw the clouds roll in, laden with moisture and complaining loudly about it. Thunder rolled near the Candy Kingdom, booming across the plains, letting everyone know a storm was coming. The weather matched her mood.

Icy peaks reared up before her, the grey of rain sheeting across her vision obscured them somewhat, but when lightning flashed behind her the white capped mountains glared brightly. The lightning, while making her flight somewhat perilous, also made it easier to navigate and it didn’t take her long to locate the particular peak she was after. A triangular doorway, fuzzed with magic to keep the rain out, marked her destination, high up the side of the mountain.

Marceline slowed slightly and slipped feet first through the opening. Her heels clicked on the icy floor and she was swiftly greeted by a pair of beady black eyes. The penguin flopped across to welcome her.

“Hello, little Gunter,” she said fondly. She gave the penguin a pat on his fluffy crown before walking past him. “Is your king home?”

“Wenk,” came the reply. Marceline didn’t have a clue what that meant, but she assumed it meant yes. Soft voices echoed through the chilly halls, proving her right.

This was one of the few places she didn’t feel… wrong. It was cold, like her. No questions about her pale skin or temperature resistance. She could just be, without funny looks. Marceline floated silently through the rooms, searching for the origin of the murmuring.

“Simon?” she called. He didn’t know his name, but he knew that’s what she called him. The voice continued. Talking to himself, she presumed, or the voices he heard courtesy of that hateful crown. How she loathed it.

Following the sound of whispering down to a lower level she wondered why he’d be down here. This was his… dungeon… for want of a better word. It wasn’t really a dungeon, just a room he’d converted to be more resistant to escaping prisoners. It was where he kept princesses. His fascination with them baffled her. But, he kept locking them up just the same. As if that was a grand way to go about getting married.

Marceline poked her head into a few doorways on the way down, hoping against hope he hadn’t actually stolen someone. She saw him before she entered the room so she paused in the corridor to watch. He was humming to himself, he was tone deaf now, but that didn’t stop him from trying to be musical. Another thing the crown had ruined. Busy at a bench making a… sandwich she thought, he didn’t see her hanging in the air not five feet from him.

“Well my love,” he said, turning slowly with his sandwich. “How about we have a romantic dinner? Just the two of us. Gunter won’t be interfering tonight.”

A snort came from somewhere in the room and the hairs on Marceline’s neck rose. Her eyes wide, she drifted closer. “He better not have,” she grumbled sullenly. She stuck her head around the corner to look inside and her heart sank. Sitting neatly in the centre of Simon’s icy cell was Bubblegum. She was in a nightdress, barefoot and her hair was a mess, black streaks tore liberally through the pink. Quite a sight.

“Oh Bonnie,” she said softly. Her boots clacked against the ice as she dropped to the floor and strode through the doorway. Bubblegum’s eyes snapped up to her face and her jaw dropped. Simon didn’t appear to notice, just kept talking about how amazing their evening was going to be. “I thought I told you to stop stealing people,” Marceline said, resting a hand on Simon’s shoulder. “It’s rude.”

Simon lurched around to stare at her. “Marceline,” he said, jaw floundering. “I… we… uh…”

“I know, Simon,” she replied gently, stepping around him. She slung her bass across her shoulder and unlatched the cell door. “I know. Come on, Bonnie; let’s get you out of there.” She thrust out her hand to help her baffled friend to her feet.

“What are you doing here?” Bubblegum asked her quietly. Like Simon wasn’t standing right there and couldn’t hear every word. “Where have you been?”

“One thing at a time, Bon,” Marceline replied, smiling faintly. “Simon, stop kidnapping people. They don’t like it.”

He hunched his shoulders. “But we were just getting to know each other,” he pleaded. “You told me-”

“I told you I wouldn’t help you,” Marceline cut across him. “Just… please, Simon. Stop.”

Simon slouched off, calling for Gunter. He seemed so sad, but she couldn’t just let him go on. And she couldn’t put a stop to it either. In spite of what the crown had done to him, he was still Simon, and she couldn’t hurt him.

“Where’s Finn?” Marceline asked Bubblegum, picking her up so her toes didn’t freeze. “He’s normally first on the scene when Simon nabs you. And he’s usually there within ten minutes.” Marceline placed the back of her hand on her friend’s cheek. “And you’ve been here a while.”

“All day and night actually,” Bonnie replied somewhat stiffly. “Finn and Jake are on holidays for a week. What are _you_ doing here and where have you been?” Ah, she was mad then.

“I… uh… had a personal issue,” Marceline told her evasively. “I was… erm… just out clearing my head. Doing stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Um… vampire stuff.”

Bubblegum pursed her lips, frowning. “That’s…” she trailed off. Marceline never answered her questions when they pertained to vampires. She knew better than to ask. It was Marceline’s way of walling off a topic and stamping it with a big ‘don’t go there’ sign.

The princess’s eyes widened when they saw the tempest raging outside. “Uh, Marceline how are we going to get home in this?” She set Bubblegum on the window sill and slid her jacket off, wrapping it around her friend’s shoulders.

“It’s probably not real warm, but pull the hood up and… hold on.”

“We won’t make it to the palace,” Bubblegum noted.

“Would you rather stay here?”

A long pause stretched taut.

It snapped. “We could go to your house,” Bonnie said so softly Marceline almost missed it. “It’s closer and… not here.”

Marceline stiffened like her spine had become a solid metal rod. “Uh…huh,” her voice wavered. “You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then,” the vampire said slowly. Then she bundled Bubblegum up and did her best to wrap up every exposed inch of skin. With the limited clothing available that wasn’t easy. Bubblegum ended up with her hands stuffed in the sleeves of her borrowed coat, her face pressed into Marceline’s shoulder and her toes… well… Marceline wrapped them up with a strip of cloth torn from her shirt. “Hang on tight, Bon.”

She dove out the window into the storm. It was blowing a gale and she found it hard to fly straight, like she was drunk. Bubblegum’s arms were an iron band around her neck, squeezing so tight it almost hurt. Good thing she didn’t need to breathe. Her long hair was drenched in seconds and it kept whipping around Bubblegum which couldn’t be good. Marceline had to shift around a few times, careful not to drop Bonnie or hold too tight, before she found something even remotely comfortable but the wind and rain lashing them still made it difficult.

Bonnie’s breath on her neck felt warm, but her nose was like ice. Marceline bowed her head and ploughed through the tempest. They probably should have stayed with Simon. The coat she’d given Bubblegum wasn’t weather proof either.

It seemed like ages, but eventually she swooped through the cave mouth, not even slowing as she raced inside. She laid a sleeping Bubblegum on the bed, had to pry stiff fingers from her neck to do so, and placed her palm on her cheek. Now Marceline had a low temperature, courtesy of being a vampire, but even to her Bonnie felt cold. She peeled off the saturated coat and slid her friend beneath the covers.

Marceline did her best to towel Bubblegum’s hair dry, but there wasn’t much she could do about her nightdress. She felt awkward and silly, but didn’t want to do anything… uncomfortable. Instead, she piled as many sheets, towels and even found a quilt in her wardrobe, on the bed, burying Bonnie beneath a mountain of cloth. 

She floated uneasily back and forth across the foot of the bed. What else could she do? She didn’t own a heating implement of any kind, she didn’t need one. Right now, Bubblegum did though. Marceline was familiar with the idea of sharing heat, but she didn’t have any to share.

Twisting her fingers, fidgeting, suffering a mild panic attack, she hovered anxiously above the bed, watching her friend sleep. What if she died? Marceline would be hated by the candy people forever. And that sour fellow would end up ruling. The idea was horrifying. But was that the only reason she was so worried? 

Yes, she decided. Yes it was. Any alternative was just stupid. She rearranged the blankets idly and crossed her legs. It was going to be a long night.

“Don’t you dare die on me, Bonnibel Bubblegum,” she murmured.


	7. Chapter 7

Sunlight crawled across her eyes, warming her face. What? She groaned and rolled onto her back, fingers uncurling from the claw they’d been in. Bonnie opened her eyes and squinted. Yes, it was sunlight, streaming in through her curtains, only partly drawn. She was in her bed; her fingers fiddled with the sheets, with her nightgown, yeah… her bed, her room, her tower, her palace.

“How the…?” she asked the empty room.

A knock came on the door before it was pushed open hesitantly and Peppermint Butler entered. Finn and Jake were behind him, even Lady was there. All had concerned looks on their faces and Finn looked absolutely livid.

“Oh, Princess, you’re awake,” Peppermint said. “About time.”

“How long have I been asleep?” she asked; voice hoarse.

“Two days,” Finn growled. “What happened? Do I have to pound someone?” He smacked a fist into the palm of his other hand for emphasis.

“No… I think he was dealt sufficient bruising to his ego,” she murmured, eyes searching the rafters. Nothing. “Did you enjoy your holiday?”

“I would have enjoyed it more if we hadn’t gotten a message saying you were missing,” said Jake. “Rushing back here thinking there was trouble. Then you were fine, if unconscious.” He sighed. “Ruined my holiday.”

Finn elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

“What happened?” asked Lady. The Rainicorn had taken to wearing her translator more, probably because she spent so much time with Finn. It was nice.

Bubblegum shrugged. “The usual. Ice King.” She related what had happened but faltered when she got to the bit where Marceline had intervened. Her voice petered out.

They blinked. “So… how did you get out, P-Bubs?” Finn asked. He was seated cross legged on the floor with Jake beside him. She still hadn’t gotten out of bed; she was worried her nightgown would be ruined.

She looked out the window, refusing to make eye contact with any of them. “I… uh. I don’t remember.” She sat very still, as though her lack of movement would make her excuse any more believable. “I remember the storm and then waking up here.” It was only slightly untrue. She remembered the feeling of Marceline’s arms around her, shaking. She remembered the wind, the rain, the lightning, the heavy, sinking feeling in her stomach. She remembered the sound of Marceline’s panicked voice wrapping her in sheets, the feel of the rough fabric against her clammy cold skin, the towel her friend had used to try and dry her hair. And those fleeting things were all that convinced her it hadn’t been simply a dream.

Peppermint frowned and Lady still looked concerned, but Finn and Jake seemed thoroughly certain of her tale. No doubt she’d have to be tested later to see if she had any side effects, but she was fine. Actually, she wondered why she wasn’t in the infirmary. 

“We’ll let you rest,” said Lady, unwinding from her place by the door. As though she hadn’t just slept for two days. “You need to recover.” Bonnie’s eyes glanced at her desk; a stack of paper had accumulated over those days that she should probably get started on. Best not to mention it in front of Peppermint.

“Alright,” she said instead. “I’ll see you all later. Sorry to have cut your holiday short, Finn.”

He shrugged. “It’s no problem, PB. Just glad you’re ok, you know?” He seemed… sober, mature. Then he grinned. “We’ll have a party when you’re better yeah?”

She smiled back. “Sure.”

They filed out, Lady with a reassuring glance and Peppermint with a frown still on his face. Bubblegum exhaled heavily once they were gone. Carefully, she pulled back the covers. It was the same nightgown, tattered and covered in stains but not really in the worst repair it could be, considering. 

Groaning at the complaints made by her stiff joints, she stood and tottered over to her vanity. The streaks from the ink were gone from her hair but it was still a mess. Deciding it didn’t really matter what she looked like, she settled for a shower. Being clean was a matter of course, and she wanted to ditch the nightgown anyway.

It was only short, not wanting to waste any time she had alone, but the warm water felt nice after being so cold. Once she emerged from the bathroom, hair wrapped up in a towel, she sat at her desk. Surprisingly, she did feel tired, so she grabbed an armful of the papers and carted them to her bed. If she was going to fall asleep at her work again, this time she’d do it in a place that was at the very least more comfortable.

She dozed in the middle of the day, pen still in her hand and when she woke a tray had been placed next to her bed. The food was coloured. Bubblegum sighed. It seemed Marceline had vanished again. That didn’t stop her stomach from growling at her, a reminder that she hadn’t eaten in a while. Sighing again at the fact that her experiment was now ruined, she ate the meal. Peppermint would crack right down the middle if she refused to eat based on the colour of her food. 

Her afternoon was much the same; just her and the paperwork. It was possible she slept again, but she didn’t really believe it. Having slept for nearly two days solid, she felt more awake than she had in a while. Also, strangely, more drained. Perhaps getting some sleep early this evening wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

“Should you be reading in such bad light?”

Startled, Bubblegum looked up from squinting at the form. A dark shape sat on her desk. It was only then that she realised the sun had set. Mostly set, fiery light still peeped above the horizon, enough to cast deep shadows and soft light through her room, but it was still quite dim.

“Marceline?” she asked softly of the silhouette.

“The one and only,” came the reply. Even without seeing, Bubblegum knew there was a grin on the vampire’s face. “Are you alright? You were pretty out of it when I dropped you off the other day.”

Her heart clenched into a little spiked ball. The word ‘obstinate’ came to mind. “I’m fine, thank you. What happened?”

The shadow shifted and Marceline drifted off the table to sit above the end of the bed, she lit the candle on Bubblegum’s side table. Bonnie blinked at the sudden light but was glad she could see her friend’s face now. Marceline shrugged. “When the storm wore off I brought you home. Figured you’d be better off here.” She wouldn’t meet Bonnie’s eyes and had a sour turn to her mouth.

She looked… helpless. Sad. “Are you okay, Marcy?” Bubblegum leaned forward but Marceline drifted higher, avoiding the hand meant for her knee.

“Yeah, Bon,” she said. “I’m fine.”

“Now try telling me the truth.”

Marceline’s ruby eyes widened slightly as if she were surprised Bubblegum knew she was lying. Her lips thinned, hands twitched, like she was having some kind of internal battle. “I was so worried,” she whispered so quietly at first Bubblegum wasn’t sure the words had actually been spoken. “You were so cold, so still,” her voice trembled and she turned away. But she couldn’t hide her expression, not really. She wore it on her sleeve. “I thought… I thought you were going to die on me.” Marceline scrubbed the backs of her hands over her face as her voice cracked. “I should never have taken you through the storm.”

Bubblegum felt hollow, aching… awful. Like something was breaking and it _hurt_. “Marcy…” She slipped from the bed, bare feet silent on the floor, and padded over to her friend. Not giving the vampire any chance to react, she wrapped her arms around her waist and pressed her face to her stomach. At first she thought Marceline would push her away, but then she returned the hug. “I’m sorry. It was my idea to fly. I’m fine.”

Marceline squeezed her so hard it bordered the kind of painful that was unbearable, but all she did was squeeze back. Then she was alone. Just like that the other woman vanished. Bubblegum staggered slightly as she overbalanced. Not a sound, not a word. Just gone.

She sighed, climbing back into bed. There was no way of working that woman out, she was completely baffling. Totally unpredictable and… and… infuriating. She needed a good slap. Or perhaps a good sleep. Maybe in the morning she’d have gotten over… whatever her problem was. Bubblegum sure hoped so.


	8. Chapter 8

She didn’t. Marceline didn’t show up the next evening. Or the one after that. Not even the third one. Bubblegum stopped feeling bad about what happened and started being angry. She’d been ignored by Marceline before, but it was usually accompanied by some sort of explanation. A goodbye, a lame excuse, a lie, something.

Bonnie was sick to death of Marceline’s mood swings. She’d been all over the place recently and it was high time something was done about it. Then she checked herself. The last time she’d yelled at Marceline her friend had vanished for nearly ten years. Not one word in all that time. Maybe there was another way to go about it, another way to figure out what her problem was.

Of course, before she could look into that, Bubblegum would have to be released from bed-prison. Peppermint Butler had teamed up with Lady Rainicorn and Doctor Princess, the three of them were refusing to let her leave her bed. Not even to get paperwork from her desk five feet away! It was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever experienced. 

At first she’d thought to do the work at night, but a new guard rotation was instructed to check on her every fifteen minutes. After the first night trying to work around that, she gave up. It was more exhausting to hide all her work and snuff out the lights every time they walked past than it was to just twiddle her thumbs waiting for sleep to come. Ridiculous. She was the princess; she should be allowed to do her work. Honestly.

The fourth day after waking up, she was finally allowed to leave her bed and she threw herself at her work, needing to make up for lost time. It had turned into quite the precariously balanced stack on her desk and she spent two Grod-awful days clearing that up while attempting to simultaneously hear petitions and other complaints from citizens and aristocracy. It wasn’t easy and the whole quagmire took several days to iron out. Even sporadic visits from Finn weren’t the usual sunshine-on-a-cloudy-day relief she’d come to expect.

At Peppermint’s direction, Finn and Jake were required to visit every other day. Sometimes they dragged her places that weren’t as exciting as they might’ve hoped she’d find them. She couldn’t be having fun when she was so far behind in her work and worrying over Marceline’s continued absence. She even asked the young adventurers if they’d encountered her in their travels, but apparently she was nowhere to be found. And Marceline was good at not being found.

\---

In the end, two weeks and change after her kidnapping, Marceline appeared sitting on her balcony rail. Bubblegum had just walked in after eating in the dining hall much to her disgruntlement to find her perched not-as-precariously-as-it-seemed on the cold steel. She glanced over her shoulder as the door clicked.

“Hey.”

Bonnie found herself fuming. She stormed over to her friend with a thunderous expression on her face. She felt like a kettle just reaching boil and her lid was going to blow. “That’s it?” she shrieked. “Two weeks you’ve been gone and all you have to say is… is ‘hey’?”

“Woah,” Marceline said, eyes wide, hands raised in supplication. “Calm down, Bonnie B. I was with my dad. He’s been bugging me about visiting for weeks now. Something about not getting enough ‘quality family time’.” She said that last with a smirk and made air quotations with her fingers.

“For two weeks?” Bonnie asked, starting to feel sort of silly about being mad. Family time was important.

“Well…” she said, rolling her eyes. “He did throw me in a cell for a few days. He left me in there with some of his more… chaotic demons… thinking they could convince me to take over the Nightosphere for him. You know,” she added with a shrug, “the usual.” Her fangs caught the moonlight as she grinned. They were so not a normal family.

Bubblegum sighed. “Alright then. I just… you didn’t say anything. I get…” she trailed off. Worried, she was worried about the stupid vampire. “Anyway, Finn was concerned when he couldn’t find you. He said you were going fairy smashing or something.”

“Darn, I forgot about that. I’ll make it up to him.” She floated closer, her hands in her pockets in the obnoxious carefree way she had. “How can I apologise for making you worry, Bon?”

“Wh-who said I was worried about you?” Bubblegum asked around the lump suddenly sitting in her throat. “I wasn’t. Worried I mean.”

Marceline chuckled and Bubblegum realised it’d been too long since she’d heard the vampire laugh. “Oh Bonnie,” she said gently. “You worry about everything.”

She opened her mouth to protest but nothing came out. It was… mostly true. She did worry. Not about everything, that was impractical and would take up too much of her time. But she did worry, yes.

“So what kind of wicked torture will you put me through for not calling?” Marceline was still smiling her cocky smile but something in her voice was different. It wasn’t glaringly obvious, but they’d been friends a long time – arguments and falling outs couldn’t change that – and Bubblegum could hear it.

She thought a moment, wondering what ‘punishment’ she could inflict. Then it hit her. “Finn and Jake wanted to throw a party and Peppermint Butler said it was a good idea to reinforce the knowledge that I’m just fine after that… incident… so we’re having a party. You can come.”

Marceline raised one eyebrow. “A party, Bon? That’s the best you got?”

“It’s a fancy dress party,” Bubblegum added. Marceline would hate it. “The ball gowns and black tie kind.” She was rewarded with the most disgusted face she’d ever seen Marceline pull.

“That sounds awful,” she moaned. “I suppose I can’t come in something more comfortable?”

“No,” Bonnie said in a far too gleeful tone. She forcibly collected herself. “You have to wear something _fancy_. A dress,” she added. It would be just like Marceline to turn up in a suit and ruin everything.

“Ugh. Fine. Just this one time.” She pulled another face, but it was marred by a smile. “The things I do for you, Bonnibel.” She turned for the window. “When is this shindig going down?”

“Probably the night after tomorrow.”

“I’ll see you there,” she said with a wink. “Sleep tight, Princess.”

Bubblegum smiled, something warm kindling in her stomach. Something that had been doused when Marceline vanished. It felt nice. She did sleep very well.


	9. Chapter 9

“Jake! Jake, Bubblegum’s invites have arrived!” Finn flounced through the door waving a flier. It was on pastel green paper, the thick, heavy duty kind.

Jake looked up from his sandwich. He had two pairs of arms, one for holding the bread and one to play BMO. He put down BMO’s controller though to snake an arm over to his friend and take the leaflet.

“Cool bro,” he said around a mouthful as he read. “We’re going right?”

“Only of course. It’ll be math, man. I wouldn’t miss it!” Finn was positively beaming, his face nearly split in two by the smile.

“Uh…” Jake mused, putting his sandwich down on the plate his stomach was making. “Did you read all this?”

“Nah, it’s telling us we can go. That’s all that matters.”

“Finn, this is a fancy dress party,” he groaned. “We have to wear… you know… fancy dress.”

Finn shrugged. “So what, man? I’ve got plenty of fancy clothes.”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “No you don’t. That cowboy hat doesn’t count. And neither does that pair of black glasses, the top hat or the stick-on moustache.”

“Aw, man, but that’d be so cool to wear.”

“Well…” Jake began, scratching his chin. “Maybe you could wear the top hat. But you’ll still have to find something to wear with it.”

“Nuts! Where are we going to find stuff like that?”

They sat in silence for a moment. Well… silence except for BMO beeping softly. Then Jake snapped his fingers.

“Got it!” he crowed. “Do you remember that night we went to that old haunted house and I tricked you into thinking we were all dead?”

“Yeah so?”

“We wore fancy dress to that. The clothes are probably still here somewhere.” Finn started smiling again. “BMO, have you seen them?”

BMO’s screen changed and a little ‘v’ appeared on his brow as he thought. “Perhaps,” he said. “They look like this yes?” He brought up a photo of Finn and Jake running around the house wearing the clothes.

“Yeah that’s them. Do we still have them?”

“I dunno,” BMO replied. “I don’t wear them.”

“BMO…” Jake warned.

The little green robot sighed. “In the knothole.”

Finn raced down the ladder and stuck his arm into the little knothole on the side wall. He grumbled as he rummaged around. “This would be faster if you did it Jake,” he called. “I can’t even see what I’m grabbing.”

His hand hit something soft and squishy, then something tacky that snapped at him as he pried his fingers loose. Then he collided with something rasping and sharp, then something smooth and silky. Closing his hand in a fist around it, he yanked. Black cloth came flying out of the hole and he cried out, tumbling backwards as he lost his balance.

“Don’t worry bro,” he called, righting himself and inspecting the clothing. “I found it. When’s this party again?”

“Tomorrow night,” Jake informed him, snaking down the ladder. He shrank as he reached the bottom, returning to a regular dog shape. “Why?”

Finn sniffed the clothes. “We might have to wash them.”

Jake laughed.

 

*~*

Flame Princess was surprised Finn asked her to the party. She and Bubblegum might have worked out a… tenuous arrangement and they’d even worked together to make an outfit for her that wouldn’t burn. But she was still nervous about going.

But he was so excited, so she put on a smile and told him she’d go. He’d almost hugged her before remembering that’d she’d crisp him without meaning to. Finn looked dashing in his tuxedo, a top hat sitting somewhat crookedly on his blonde locks. His usual white hat was stuffed in his pocket just in case he got bored of the other. But she hoped he wouldn’t take it off, it was nice to see his hair, and dressed up he was quite fetching. Her dad – having popped out of the fireplace to say hello just as Finn arrived to pick her up – had even believed he was a prince.

Now, wearing her foil outfit, long silver gloves reaching her elbows, he was dragging her by the hand through the streets of the Candy Kingdom towards the big pink palace in the centre. The feeling in her core was still sort of… unstable and the sugary citizens gave her funny looks like they expected her to torch them. Anxiety.

“Come on, FP,” Finn said, turning slightly to grin at her. “Don’t want to miss anything.”

“Course not,” she replied.

They hurried up the stairs, Jake and Lady had arrived early to help PB set up. When they stepped inside, Flame Princess couldn’t help but gasp. The entrance hall was decked out with little fairy lights and paper lanterns. They didn’t seem to hold a flame which fascinated her; how could they give light without fire? She’d have to ask. Long trestle tables ran down each side of the room and were surrounded by white wicker chairs. Floral pastel cloths were draped over each table and piled on top was plate after silver gilded plate of food. At the far end of the room on a raised platform that she assumed had been assembled for tonight only, was a band. Soft music came from the piano, but the rest of the musicians were still tuning their instruments. A disco ball hung from the ceiling and Manfried kept shooting it sidelong glances that spoke volumes. The curtains had been taken down on the wall-windows behind the food tables on one side and several doors let out into the gardens.

Princess Bubblegum was with LSP by the band. The floating purple blob seemed to be having an animated conversation with the drummer and Bubblegum was merely a bystander. The dress the princess was wearing was carmine, a pink shade, as was her usual practice. Flame Princess wasn’t sure Bubblegum owned a single article of clothing in a colour other than pink. How boring.

“Come on, FP,” Finn repeated, taking her hands in both of his. “Let’s dance.” 

She raised one fiery eyebrow. “Uh… Finn the band isn’t ready. How about we go get something to eat instead?”

He beamed at her and she couldn’t help but smile back. He was always so cheerful, it was infectious and she loved being around him. It made her feel… normal. And not evil like her dad kept insisting she was. “Great idea. Then we can dance.”


	10. Chapter 10

It was an alright sort of party, if he spun around in circles till he felt ill. Perhaps the vertigo would help, but he doubted it. Flame Princess stood beside him on the dance floor, short hair flaring. Her dress this evening was made of foil, something she and PB had come up with. They’d even made a pair of foil gloves that made using her hands much more practical. She swung her arms aimlessly and watched Lady shooting rainbows off the disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Manfried didn’t seem overly perturbed by the disco ball, but he still glared at it occasionally, as if resenting that he couldn’t reflect light.

“She looks bored,” Finn said, watching PB. She was seated further across the room with her back to the windows. LSP was nearby, they’d been talking, but apparently LSP’s friend Melissa had pretty important news and now Bubblegum was by herself, staring into nothing.

Flame Princess tilted her head, and followed his gaze. “You think so?” she asked him softly. Her tone carried something extra, another question perhaps, but Finn didn’t pick up on it.

“Yeah,” he replied. “I mean, why is she by herself? This is a party, she should be enjoying it.”

“Mmhmm,” Flame Princess said distractedly. “Maybe she’s just tired. You said she doesn’t sleep well anymore.”

Finn brightened. “Yeah, she probably just needs to dance. I’ll go ask her.” Flame Princess raised an eyebrow, but Finn was already weaving through the crowd.

“He’s so dense,” she murmured.

He didn’t make it halfway over to her before something dark slipped through the window next to him. Finn stepped back quickly as Marceline appeared, casting anxious looks across the room. His eyes widened when he realised she’d actually dressed up to come and was wearing a black dress and stockings. Her hair was even pulled back and she’d switched her usual red boots for a pair of knee high black ones.

“Marceline!” he exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

Her red eyes fixed on him and she drifted closer. “Keep it down would you?” she said tersely. “I was invited. What are _you_ doing here?”

He frowned. “But I thought you and PB didn’t get on…” he grumbled.

She tsked and dropped down a little lower. “Well… yeah I guess. But I was invited. Where is she?”

Finn pointed in Bubblegum’s direction. “I was just going to ask if she wanted to dance. She looks bored.”

Marceline lifted an eyebrow and smiled cheekily. “Didn’t you come with Flame Princess?” she asked, the smile sounding in her voice.

“Yeah she’s over there,” he replied, waving an arm in her general direction. “So?”

“So?” she asked, her smile broadening, showing her fangs. “You don’t come to a party with your girlfriend then go ask another woman to dance, Finn. That’s pretty basic stuff. She probably feels rotten now, you dinkus.”

Finn hunched his shoulders. “But… I was just worried about PB. I didn’t mean anything…”

Marceline chuckled. “Yeah ok, whatever you say. You go back to Flame Princess, dork. I’ll take care of Bubblegum.”

He pouted, but turned and slouched off to Flame Princess.

 

*~*

 

Marceline cast another glance around the room, but Bubblegum was still staring off into space. Slowly, she glided closer and swept around behind her. Bubblegum looked totally out of it, normally she’d hear the little rustling sound Marceline made as she flew, but tonight; nothing.

“Not dancing at your own party, Bonnie?” she asked softly, appearing at her friend’s shoulder.

Bubblegum sat up straight, green eyes locking onto Marceline in surprise. “Marceline! I didn’t think you were coming!” she said almost an octave higher than usual. So pretty high.

“And why is everyone so surprised to see me? I did get an invitation,” she said, smiling. 

“This… just isn’t the sort of event people expect you to attend, Marceline,” said Bubblegum, sighing. “I know I didn’t think you’d show.” 

“Well I promised I’d come so I did. Now, why aren’t you dancing?” Marceline pressed. “This is your party; you should have invited someone to dance with.” Bubblegum pursed her lips and looked away. Marceline sighed and put out a hand, heels clicking on the tiled floor as she dropped out of the air. “Will you dance with me then, Bonnibel?”


	11. Chapter 11

Bubblegum’s eyes whipped back around and widened perceptibly. Her head told her it was a bad idea, stupid and fanciful. Her heart wailed as it fought against having its precariously reassembled pieces torn apart. But her hand didn’t listen to either of them and Marceline smiled, tightening her hold on Bubblegum’s wrist, drawing her onto the dance floor.

Her chest felt tight and she knew she’d regret it later, her heart was hammering on her rib cage, shrieking at her to turn and run. She knew what would happen, it already had. But… anything to see her friend smile…

Marceline spun her around, sending her carmine skirt twirling. The band picked up a song and without breaking stride, Marceline stepped into the beat. It surprised her, somewhat, how easily Marceline danced to a ballroom number.

“I didn’t know you could dance,” Bubblegum said as Marceline spun her out till they were at arms’ length in a graceful movement. She wasn’t even floating, it was ridiculous.

The other woman just smiled again. “Everyone has their little surprises, Bonnie,” she said, spinning her back in till they were face to face. “And I _am_ a thousand years old. I’m bound to have a few extras tucked up my sleeve.” Bubblegum swallowed, her friend’s red eyes, filling her vision with whatever demonic mesmerisation she had, making her mind go completely blank. “You didn’t answer my question,” she continued, resuming a regular step. “Why didn’t you invite someone to dance with? It’s your party; you can get anyone you want to attend. Are you getting lazy?” Over Marceline’s shoulder, Devlin, the son of one of her staff, waved brightly at her and Bubblegum smiled back. He was a nice fellow and always brought his mother gifts from his travels. 

“I did invite someone to dance with, Marceline,” she said, returning her attention to their conversation. She opened her mouth to continue, but Marceline had already let her go. Let go like she’d been burned actually. She whirled, her feet lifting from the tiles absently, and caught sight of Devlin and his mother who had started up a conversation with Manfried. 

Marceline’s eyes turned inwards and she fled out the window. Bubblegum didn’t even have time to call after her before she was gone. Inside, a sing-song voice was chanting ‘I told you so’. Her chest felt like it was being crushed, fine black lines spider-webbing across her heart. She sat back down, eyes already unfocused.

 

*~*

 

“That was a quick visit,” Finn commented to Flame Princess as they watched Marceline streak through the window. He put his foot down without thinking and stepped on Flame Princess’ foot. Her hair flared up briefly, but died down just as fast. She was trying to teach him a proper dance and failing.

“She looks sad again,” Flame Princess muttered; her eyes on Bubblegum. Finn’s gaze followed hers and he realised that PB had taken up the same position she’d been in before Marceline arrived. He scratched his head.

“You think? I still reckon she’s tired.”

Flame Princess sighed gently, making her foil dress shine. “Come on, I want to ask Lady a question.”

“You speak her language?” asked Finn, hurrying after her.

“Not very well, but enough to ask my question.” Flame Princess didn’t get out much, but she did have a decent education… because she’s a Princess. At least, that’s how Finn justified it to himself. “Also, she’s wearing her translator.” Finn blushed, having forgotten that bit.

“Hey buddy!” Jake said happily when they reached him and Lady. “How’s your party moves coming?” he asked, undulating his arms like a wave. “Getting sophisticated yet?”

Finn laughed as Flame Princess went off to ask Lady her mystery question. “I’m pretty bad at dancing like that, Jake.”

“Just don’t push her too far,” his friend whispered. “You know she can be a bit crazy when frustrated.”

Finn frowned, but couldn’t argue the point. Not without being called a dinkus again. “Hey what do you think of PB tonight? She’s all… bored looking.”

Jake sighed. “Don’t be getting ideas Finn,” he said in his serious voice.

“Tell me she doesn’t look bored,” Finn said, huffing at the accusation.

“Huh,” Jake replied, stretching up to see PB over the crowd. “She looks sad. What happened? What did you do bro?”

“What me? What makes you think I did something?” he almost screeched. “And what’s with everyone saying she looks sad?”

“Who’s everyone?”

“Flame Princess said it too.”

Jake nodded sagely. “Girl stuff.”


	12. Chapter 12

“You can’t just sit there all night, Princess,” whined Peppermint Butler for what felt like the hundredth time. “This is a party. So be excited.”

Bubblegum only sighed.

“My, we’re unenthused this evening. I did tell you not to invite the vampire.”

Bubblegum rolled her eyes. “She’s my friend Peppermint. Besides, she’s gone now.” She didn’t mention the part where the invitation was meant to be payback. That wouldn’t go over well.

Peppermint cleared his throat. “Yes… well. That doesn’t excuse your behaviour. You are their princess. Act like it.”

Her butler often spoke his mind, but for him to be so blunt… that was unusual. She forced a smile onto her face and focused her gaze on him. “Is that better?” she asked through gritted teeth.

He put a finger up to his face. “Hum… if it looked a little less like you were in pain, it might be passable for a smile.”

She sighed again. “Why ever did I think this was a good idea?”

“You do have to maintain an image, Princess. In regards to the vampire… I believe I asked that question earlier also.”

“You’re useless.”

“Careful, Princess; mustn’t let your melancholy infect the guests.” He turned to walk away, and then looked back at her. “Act cheerful for an hour then I’m sure you can bail gracefully.”

Bubblegum closed her eyes and forced the smile back onto her face. It didn’t sit right and she still felt hollow inside, but it seemed to fool some of her guests. Lady, was looking at her from the other side of the room and from her gaze, she was most definitely not convinced that all was well. Bubblegum made a note to avoid contact with her friend.

The hour positively dragged on. She couldn’t bring herself to dance again, but she walked about, careful to stay away from Lady. LSP was still on the phone and even if she’d been by Bubblegum’s side, she wouldn’t have noticed. She was constantly checking the clock high on the wall for a time to arrive that was suitably late so she could excuse herself. But the seconds seemed to take years and the minutes lasted veritable eternities.

After waiting what felt a lifetime, the clock chimed the hour. Ten at night was by no means late, but she knew most of the guests were aware she wasn’t sleeping. Pleading exhaustion might pass for a decent excuse. Taking a deep breath she headed over to Lady. Finn, Jake and Flame Princess were with her which would make this much easier.

“I’m calling it a night, guys,” she said, still holding onto her false smile. “Feel free to stay as long as you’d like. I’ll leave Peppermint in charge.”

Lady asked her if she was sure she was alright and was echoed, surprisingly, by a worried looking Flame Princess.

“Yes, I’m just tired,” she replied. “Perhaps going to bed earlier will give me more time to sleep.”

“Hah!” Finn exclaimed. “I knew it. Sad… Pfft!”

Her smile faltered momentarily at his words and she knew neither Lady nor Flame Princess would have missed it. Driving the wan smile onto her face for a few more moments, she made her final goodnights and hustled off before they could ask anything else.

She waved to LSP and Devlin as she passed them and headed along the corridor, then on up the stairs. Peppermint Butler followed her the whole way to her bedroom in the tower. “Just… make sure they’re gone by midnight,” she told him, stopping at her door. “And apologise for my absence.”

He nodded, watching minutely as she opened her door the tiniest of slivers and slipped inside. Once away from his knowing stare, she leaned back against the door and wrapped her arms around herself. Peering up at the dark rafters she tried to see through the gloom.

“Marceline?” she asked in a whisper. The window was closed, but the door to her balcony stood ajar and she tiptoed over to it. “Are you here?” The cold air from the balcony cut straight through her dress as she stepped outside and looked around. Her friend wasn’t on the railings so Bubblegum looked up. There on the sloped roof, with her knees brought up to her chest, her arms around them and her chin on one elbow, was Marceline.

“What are you doing up there?” she asked. No reply. Bubblegum sighed. “Get down off the roof and come inside.”

Marceline looked over at her. “Why?”

“Because I’m cold out here and I want to talk to you,” Bubblegum replied gently, moving back inside and pacing to her desk. The door clicked gently as Marceline followed her in, but she fidgeted nervously and floated up so high that Bubblegum had to crane her neck to look at her.

“Are you alright?” she asked her. Marceline’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re… not going to ask why I left?”

Bubblegum shrugged. “I figure if you want to tell me you will.”

The vampire dropped several feet until she was pretty close to eye level. “I… yeah I’m fine.”

“Don’t you lie to me, Marceline.” 

She huffed. “I’m fine alright?” she said tartly, crossing her arms. Bubblegum just watched her. Marceline sank slowly until she was sitting on a sofa, avoiding Bubblegum’s eyes. “I’m fine, Bonnie really. Stop staring at me.”

Still with her arms around herself, Bubblegum sat down beside her friend. “Marceline…” She had no idea where she was going with that so she just closed her mouth and sat in silence.

Marceline sighed softly. “Why did you invite me? You could’ve picked anything else for me to do. Why this?” She still wouldn’t make eye contact, but that wasn’t unusual.

“Why did you come?” Bubblegum countered. She knew it irritated the other woman when she replied with a question, but she was pretty irritated herself.

The vampire frowned and for a moment forgot that she was trying to ignore Bubblegum, giving her a confused look. “Well… because you invited me… and I owed you. But I still don’t know why this was what you picked.”

Bubblegum shrugged. “Because you’re my friend and I wanted you to be here. Why do you think?”

Marceline shook her head. “That’s…” she sighed, looking away again. “Finn was going to ask you to dance,” she said, surprising Bubblegum with the randomness of the statement.

“Uh…”

She shrugged. “He said you looked bored and thought a dance would cheer you up,” Marceline explained. “I told him not to.”

“That was… nice of you, Marcy,” Bubblegum said softly. “Poor Flame Princess.”

Marceline smiled wanly. “Yeah, Finn’s practically blind sometimes.” She paused and took a deep breath, then exhaled without speaking. “I left because you didn’t need me there,” she blurted suddenly.

Bubblegum started. “What? Why? Who said I didn’t want you there?”

Marceline pursed her lips and shifted uncomfortably on the chair. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. “You didn’t need me, Bonnie. I don’t exactly fit in… you know,” she waved a hand vaguely as though searching for words she could care less about. “I don’t belong here.”

“That’s stupid. And completely irrelevant,” Bubblegum said a little more sharply than she meant to. “I invited you. I wouldn’t have if I didn’t want you here.”

“We’re talking about two different things now, PB,” Marceline replied, trying to sound offhand and not succeeding. “You’re talking about _wanting_ me to come here and I’m talking about _belonging_ here. I’m not like you.”

“Usually you wouldn’t care what people think about you turning up to a party that’s a little different. You’ve never cared before.”

Marceline hunched her shoulders. “What makes you think I care now?”

Bubblegum lifted one eyebrow and tugged on the sleeve of her friend’s dress. “Look at what you’re wearing. I didn’t even know you _had_ this.”

A smile pulled at the corner of Marceline’s mouth but was quickly supressed. “I just found it in the closet. It doesn’t mean anything.”

She sighed. “What’s wrong with you Marceline?” she asked. “And don’t say ‘nothing’, I know there’s something. Tell me.”

The other woman opened her mouth and then closed it again. No doubt she’d been going to say ‘nothing’. “I’m fine, Bonnie,” she said instead, exploiting a loop hole. “Really.”

“No,” Bubblegum snapped, twisting in her spot to better see her friend’s face. “You tell me right now. Spit it out.”

Marceline stood and walked away. Walked, not flying and she didn’t go out the window. Oh yes, there was something on her mind. She folded her arms and stood looking down at Bubblegum’s desk. There were a few papers on it, but Marceline wouldn’t read them.

“Why did you wait here if you weren’t going to answer my question?” Bubblegum asked her. She stood too, but didn’t walk over. Marceline leaned back till she was resting on her heels, hard to do for most people, but then she could float.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Then would you please –”

“You danced with me,” she said suddenly, cutting across Bubblegum. Marceline closed her eyes and her feet clicked back to the floor. “But you invited someone to dance with. Why…? Why would you do that?”

Bubblegum snorted. “That’s it? I can’t dance with a friend if I want to?”

Marceline stared up at the ceiling, then down at the floor, then out the window. She sighed and turned away. “You go to a party with someone to dance with them, not with someone else.”

“That’s silly Marcy.”

“I know,” she retorted waspishly. “I know that. But… did he dance well?”

She frowned. “He who?”

“That guy,” she said waving her hand. She seemed alright now. “That one who waved at you. He was your partner right?”

“Devlin?” Bubblegum asked, shocked. “The one in the yellow?” Marceline nodded. “Oh Glob no! He’s the son of one of my cooks. He brings her something every Friday; a party tonight wasn’t going to stop him.” She crossed the room and smiled.

“Oh,” the other woman said, rolling her eyes up. “Oh.”

“He looks like a banana, Marceline,” Bubblegum laughed, elbowing Marceline in the ribs. “He was here for his mother, not to dance.”

Marceline smiled, a proper smile this time, there was no strain. “Well then.” A thought made a shadow cross her face briefly. “Then… who did you invite to dance with?”

She felt her cheeks go all warm. “I invited you. You _are_ my friend. I figured I could count on you.”

The look on Marceline’s face was priceless. She was completely lost for words, and usually she’d react to surprise with anger or something defensive. Not this time.

Marceline leaned in and pressed her lips softly against Bubblegum’s. It lasted only the briefest of seconds, but it was plenty long enough to send electricity through her. Bubblegum shivered as the other woman pulled away sharply, her eyes wide, horror written across her face.

“I… I don’t…” Marceline stammered, taking a step back. “I don’t know why I did that.” She looked shaken and anxious. Bubblegum’s feet moved without her permission, following Marceline.

“I do,” Bubblegum whispered. It was like she’d completely lost control of her faculties. All of them were doing things without her acquiescence. What was wrong with her?

Marceline walked backwards into her lamp and stopped, turning slightly to see what had impeded her slow retreat. When she gathered herself and spun back to watch Bubblegum, the smaller woman had closed the gap. Bubblegum reached up and wound her hands in the collar of Marceline’s dress, pulled her forward and kissed her gently. She was losing her mind.

It took a moment, but this time Marceline didn’t pull away. Instead, her feet rising from the floor and her hands on Bubblegum’s shoulders, she leaned into it. Bubblegum’s toes curled and her fingers looped through Marceline’s hair. Then in a flash, her brain caught up with her and she pushed Marceline away.

“Stop,” she gasped, her hands were shaking violently. Her heart was pounding awfully fast and her head felt… like jelly.

Marceline’s eyes were round like saucers. They glanced at Bubblegum’s crown briefly then back down to her horrified green eyes. “I’m sorry, Princess,” she said quietly. Like lightning, she was gone out the window.

“Marceline!” Bubblegum cried after her, her voice catching. The vampire didn’t even look back. 

Still quivering like leaves in a gale, Bubblegum stumbled to her bed and flopped down, face first into the covers. She wrapped her arms around her pillow and pressed her face into it as far as she could. Then she screamed. She screamed for a long time, before it faded away and she started shuddering. She wasn’t sure if it was crying or not, but either way, knotted up into the foetal position, hugging the pillow to her chest, she fell asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

“So are we worried then?” asked Jake, making another sandwich. His plate was already piled precariously high with them, each sporting a differently coloured filling. He never seemed to stop eating; it was almost marvellous how he didn’t end up insanely obese. Until his shape-shifting abilities were brought to mind and then it was less confusing.

“Why?” asked Finn, rocking back on his chair and tossing a paper plane at the ceiling.

“Bubblegum hasn’t been outside her tower in weeks,” Jake replied slowly, lining up the edges of his sandwiches as though it were the most important thing in the world. “Peppermint won’t even let us in the doors. That’s unusual bro.”

The paper plane reached the pinnacle of its arc and swept in a broad downward curve across the room. It hit BMO in the back and fell to the floor. Finn frowned and launched another plane on a slightly different trajectory. 

“PB’s probably just making things blow up in glass bottles, man,” Finn said nonchalantly. “Or buried beneath a stack of boring kingdom paper things.” He pursed his lips a moment. “She should get me to make planes out of them, then she’d have some fun.”

The second plane landed on BMO’s head and the little computer’s screen made a frowney face at him. BMO tossed the paper back at Finn and tottered across the room, climbing up onto the chair beside Jake.

“Somehow… no,” Jake said. He picked up the stack of sandwiches and tried to fit the whole teetering lot into his mouth at once. “I don’t think she’d appreciate that much, bro.”

“What about Marceline?” Finn asked, beginning to fold another plane. “Do you think she’d be down with paper planes?” She’d been gone for a while too. Her cave was empty and they hadn’t been able to find her anywhere. Perhaps she’d gone to visit her dad again.

Jake shrugged. It didn’t matter which way he rotated the sandwiches; he couldn’t get them to fit. So he expanded to the size of a bear and most of that was mouth. Grinning, he plopped them in and shrank back down. Finn didn’t quite understand how that worked, but it did. “If you can find her maybe,” he said with a burp. “But she’s pretty good at hiding.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. He flipped the plane and this time it looped straight through the hoop he’d glued to the wall earlier. Finn jumped to his feet and let out a whoop. “Did you see that, bro?”

“Nah I missed it.”

Finn glowered at him.

“So you don’t think we should even look for Marceline again?” asked Jake. He rolled his lips, glanced at the clock, then set about making more sandwiches. “I know she goes off a lot, but not usually for this long.”

“You’re worried about the vampire who scared you almost to death?” Finn asked wryly. “Classic.”

Mustard squirted half way across the room as Jake flinched from the words. “Great,” he muttered, slamming the bottle onto the bench. “Yeah I’m worried. Something’s happened and they’re hiding from each other, Finn.”

“So?” Finn waved a hand and a nonchalant fashion. “They argue all the time. They aren’t the best of friends you know.”

“Let’s go check her cave again at least,” Jake almost pleaded. “Then we’ll stop by Lady’s place. She might make us dinner.”

Finn sighed, but clambered onto his friend’s shoulders. “Fine. And stop thinking about your stomach or we’ll have to go shopping again.”

\---

“Marceline still isn’t home?” Lady asked softly when they arrived a few hours later. “And Bubblegum still won’t leave her tower?”

They shook their heads. “Have you been to see PB lately, babe?” Jake asked her, giving her a hug. 

“No.” Lady looked sad. “She’s not seeing anyone. The only person who even gets close is Peppermint and he’s being very obstinate about guests. She issued _orders_. Orders!” She sighed. It must be going around.

“That’s it,” Finn said, punching his palm. “We have to crash that palace. No more hiding.”

“It doesn’t work like that, Finn,” murmured Lady. “Not with her. Just leave her be for a few more days. Something’s bound to happen.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” the hero groaned. “You make it seem like something _bad_ will happen.”

“She just needs time, Finn.”

“It’s already been nearly three weeks,” Jake informed Lady solemnly. “How much time does she need?”

Lady looked out the window at the moon. “Hard to say. She judges time differently to the rest of us.” She turned her spectrum encompassing eyes back on the pair of them. “Just don’t push her. She’ll be fine.”

 

*~*

 

“I’m fine!” she shrieked through the door. Footsteps _ptter-pttered_ down the hall, floorboards creaking occasionally where they were loose. Alone, sick of the patrol past her door that hadn’t been cancelled once she had recovered from her illness, she sank onto the foot of her bed. She rubbed her eyes and fell backwards. Pillows bounced on the mattress, several falling off.

Bubblegum groaned. Her eyes were gritty and had uncomfortable mauve patches underneath them, evidence that she wasn’t sleeping again. Despite her outburst, she wasn’t fine. At all. Her head felt full of wool and every sound screeched against her skull like nails on a blackboard. Her work wasn’t engrossing anymore and she couldn’t walk outside. Couldn’t. Sunlight no longer held warmth.

The worst part was the hole in her stomach that never seemed to fill. It redefined gut-wrenching. “Truffles,” she sighed, turning her face to the balcony doors. Moonlight blazed through the glass, only a wafer thin slice missing from one side. Three weeks it had been since the party, three long painful weeks. And every night she lay here, watching the unlatched door and hoping.

But that familiar silhouette never materialised.

She closed her eyes and clutched her pillow close, hugging it to her chest like it could offer some solace. It couldn’t. But she clutched it anyway, a horrible parody of a panacea that couldn’t fill that hole.

Wind whispered past the window, branches tapped on the glass, floorboards creaked in the hall. Moonlit music that wasn’t good enough. Tonight though, it proved to be a melancholy melody that pushed her to the brink of sleep. It didn’t quite tip her over that edge though.

A breeze played with the curtains, the chill climbing her spine. Had she left the door open? She couldn’t remember. But it was so comfortable, so warm, wrapped up in her blankets that getting up to check was out of the question. Her eyelids were heavy and she wouldn’t give up the chance for a solid night’s rest. Nightmares didn’t count.

So when a soft _strrm_ fluttered from the rafters down to tickle her ears she was almost oblivious. The sound was familiar and her whole body relaxed as though it had lifted all her worries away. Another note followed the first, another, a fourth. It became a tune that was only a little mournful, but heartfelt too. Emotion went into that sound; the kind of emotion that comes from so deep down inside that it doesn’t have a name. It just fills you up to bursting and bubbles out, first in a trickle, then a rush until you’re babbling and awkward.

Humming joined the music, soft, uncertain, searching. The words on the tip of the tongue but not quite framed yet. Words that were steeped in just as much sentiment as the music, only hesitant because words can hurt. They can make you laugh and cry and they can break your heart. And these words, these pending syllables… they were heartbreaking.

But the tune was deceptive and sincere and Bubblegum smiled into her pillow, holding it tighter. Not sure if she wanted to hear the song or give in to the sleep that had been evading her so completely of late, she wavered. In the end, she forced her mind to stay awake, eyes closed because opening them was too much effort, but listening just the same. She wanted to know what the words were. She had to know what the wrenching in her chest was and if her heart was beating in time to the music for a reason. She had to know.

So she listened.


	14. Chapter 14

It was hard. The words wouldn’t come. They were there, she could feel them, but she didn’t know how to say them. With the bass in her hands, strings pliable between her fingers, everything was simple. She just couldn’t say it. Not when Bubblegum was awake, but why was it hard when she was asleep?

She blinked, fighting with herself, hands plucking the strings absently. Come on, really, it’s not that difficult. Just a few words. Just say goodbye. That’s all there is. And this time, don’t come back.

A lump made it hard to speak, let alone sing. She swallowed around it, trying to force it to go away, but it sat there, as adamant and pig-headed as the little pink woman lying on her equally pink bed sheets. Come on. Just say it. But saying things is hard, oh so hard, and singing them is easy. Easier. And there was music in her fingers and words on her lips and rhymes in her heart, so why not do it the only way she knew how?

“ _You’re beautiful, perfect  
More than this broken project  
Too good for me  
Oh far too sweet  
And you’re still a piece of me  
That I wish I didn’t need  
Please don’t speak  
Just let me leave  
There’s better things for you  
Things that you should choose  
I can hide this ache  
Behind a smile somewhat fake  
But I wish it were untrue  
When I say that…_”

The chord faltered, died, with an extended _blrrrm-shpk_. The words caught in her throat. The lump that wouldn’t budge, just sat there made her freeze. How she wished those words were easier to say. How she wished they’d just come out. The wan light shone in through the balcony window and lit her face, her green eyes, now wide open and staring.

Bubblegum opened her mouth and Marceline felt panic rising. She realised what she’d been singing. Bonnie had heard it all. Before the other woman could speak, she fled. The curtains stirred in the breeze of her passing.

Bonnibel was smart; she knew where that had been going. She knew and it killed her. Maybe the words hadn’t been said aloud, but they hung in the air behind her just the same.

Something snagged her hair and panic filled her. What was it? What was stopping her from leaving? She spun, hands already moving to untangle her. It was Bonnie. Wow she must have moved fast. The dark bags beneath her eyes belied the alertness in her green gaze. One hand was fisted in Marceline’s hair, holding her above the balcony.

For a long moment they were unmoving there, a tableau of terrified stares and terminated words. Marceline floating over the drop to the pavement in the courtyard, Bubblegum standing on the threshold between inside and out. She stepped onto the balcony, still holding tight to the midnight tresses. The spell broke.

“Let me go, Bonnie,” Marceline croaked, her throat rasped and her eyes stung. “Just let me leave. This time I won’t come back. I promise. You’ll never have to see me again.”

Bubblegum ignored her. “You have a nasty habit of not finishing your songs, Marcy,” she whispered.

“Please,” Marceline almost begged. She would’ve got down and pleaded but she didn’t want to stay, she wanted to fly away. To hide. Anywhere but here.

“Why should I?”

The question startled her, but she just shook her head. “I’m sorry, ok. I didn’t mean to. Just let me go. _Please_?”

Bubblegum had collected most of the hair on the balcony and was standing as close as she could get, hands wrapped up tight in the dark locks. Her eyes were on Marceline’s face and her expression was carefully blank. She tried to pull Marceline down to eye level, but the vampire wasn’t having it. 

“You didn’t mean what? You never finished the song.”

Her eyes were still stinging, blurred slightly from tears she refused to shed. “I’m sorry. Let me go.”

Bubblegum pursed her lips. “Tell me. What didn’t you mean, Marceline Abadeer? Don’t ask me to let you go again. I won’t until you tell me.”

Marceline glanced around; hoping a way out would present itself. It didn’t. And she wouldn’t hurt Bubblegum just to get away. She could never do that. She’d promised not to hurt her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I kissed you. I shouldn’t have.”

Bonnie tilted her head and did the one thing Marceline wasn’t expecting. She smiled. “Why not?”

Marceline’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?” her voice sounded unnaturally shrill. But that was the dumbest question she’d ever been asked. And it was asked by the smartest person she knew. The world must be ending again.

“Why shouldn’t you have kissed me, Marceline?”

She floundered for an answer. “Well… you’re the princess… and it’s… it’s… _thoroughly_ ridiculous. I mean, c’mon, Bonnie. It’s stupid to love you, you’re… well… you’re _you_.” So insanely surprised she’d been that she’d lost several feet of height and not even noticed. What the Grod was happening here?

Bubblegum was still smiling. A little knowing smile that Marceline didn’t like. Sure, Bonnie knew lots of stuff, but whatever this thing was she knew, Marceline wasn’t sure she’d like it. It was probably something awful. More awful than a fancy dress party to which she’d been required to wear a dress. If that was possible.

It wasn’t worse.

Hands still knotted tightly in Marceline’s hair, Bubblegum pulled her head down until they were at eye level. “You’re forgetting one very important detail, Marceline Abadeer,” she whispered. It sounded funny and Marceline’s undead heart skipped a beat. Something she’d previously assumed impossible. She tried to ask what that something might be, but all she managed was a hoarse rasp. Nonetheless, Bonnie seemed to understand. “I kissed you back.”

Then Bubblegum’s lips were feathering hers and she dropped out of the air. Her knees wobbled and she almost collapsed. It was warm and gentle and she was shaking, trembling, crying. She tasted like strawberries.

Bonnie leaned back and smiled again. “Is the big bad Vampire Queen crying right now?” she asked and it was tender. Marceline couldn’t respond so she buried her face in Bubblegum’s shoulder. Her knees provided one last shake and finally gave way beneath her. She fell to the tiles, taking Bonnie with her. The hands in her hair weren’t knotted anymore, warm on the back of her neck, gentle; she shivered.

She lifted her eyes, more red now than usual thanks to those stupid tears, and studied Bonnie’s face. The curve of her nose, the funny slant to her lips, those big green eyes (and the dark beneath them), glittering in the moonlight, watching her right back. Her arms were slack at her side, she felt… electric. Like lightning had shot her down and turned everything to jelly. Her mouth wouldn’t work to ask the one question that really mattered.

Bubblegum’s hand touched her cheek, thumb pushing the tears away. Marceline sighed. Control returning. “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“What are you sorry for this time?”

She barked a laugh. “Thinking I could get away from you.”

The smile had a roguish cast to it now and Marceline’s chest tightened, heart fluttering. “I didn’t know vampires could blush you know,” Bubblegum said, still running her fingers over Marceline’s cheek. “It’s fascinating.”

Marceline staggered to her feet, refusing to look weak for one more second. “You should get out of the cold,” she told the princess. “You just got over a… whatever that was.”

“That was weeks ago, Marceline.” But she went inside just the same and waited for Marceline to follow before closing the door. “You said you loved me,” she whispered once the vampire had been safely locked in. Well, she’d walked into that one.

“No I didn’t,” she denied, trying to remember if she actually had said that. Grod, she had. She stared at the carpet, still not really sure what was going on. A small pink hand took hers and she looked up again. Bubblegum just smiled and leaned in.

“If you try and leave again, I’ll lock you in my dungeon,” she murmured against Marceline’s ear. That… probably sounded worse than what she meant. But that didn’t stop Marceline’s face from going the most embarrassing shade of purple to ever grace a vampire’s features. She pressed her face into Marceline’s neck and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Never try that again.”

“I…” Marceline began, but she had no words. Her brain wasn’t working; this had to be a dream. She didn’t know what to do with her hands, but Bubblegum’s face was warm on her skin and her hands made her shiver. “Bonnie… what…?”

“My, you are thick sometimes,” Bubblegum whispered. Her lips brushed Marceline’s jaw and she closed her eyes, something warm lanced up her spine and bubbled in her stomach. “What do you think?”

Not a dream. Her mind swirled, and everything that had just happened suddenly crashed down on her. She turned her head, meeting Bubblegum’s lips with hers and snatched her off the floor, wrapping her up tight. Maybe a little too tight, but all she could feel was warmth. Bonnie seemed surprised, but it didn’t last long, hands on her neck, she just pulled herself closer. For that short moment, Marceline could almost pretend her heart was beating. Pounding more like.

Bubblegum sighed against her cheek, breathless. “See? Not hard.”

Marceline growled. “You just… ugh…” Strawberries. She kissed Bubblegum’s jaw, down her neck to the hollow of her collarbone. Bonnie only clutched her fingers tighter in Marceline’s shirt. “You’re so… _mercurial_. One minute you want me gone, the next…”

Bonnie pulled away. “Who said I wanted you gone?”

“You pushed me away,” Marceline grumbled. “If you wanted… whatever this is… why would you do that?”

She shrugged, it was an awkward movement because Marceline’s arms were still tight around her, but she managed. “Moment of stupidity,” she smiled. “Even I have them now and then.” Her hands cupped Marceline’s cheeks and she leaned in until their noses were touching. Marceline almost went cross-eyed trying to hold her gaze. “Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?” she asked quietly, lost in an emerald stare.

“You said it was silly to love me,” the princess murmured into the corner of Marceline’s mouth. “Did you mean that?”

“Yeah. It is. I mean… how could I ever expect anything from you?”

“How could you expect anything less than everything?” Bubblegum fired back. “How long have we been friends, Marceline? A _really_ long time.”

“Yeah but-” Marceline didn’t have a reply for that. They had been friends a while. “Are we still friends then?”

Her warm fingers traced the line of her jaw and along her ears to their pointed tips. It tingled. “I think… maybe a bit more than friends, Marcy,” she murmured against Marceline’s lips. “You alright with that?”

For answer, she crushed her mouth against Bonnie’s eliciting a satisfying squeak.


End file.
